War Is Never Simple
by SpartanHoplite
Summary: War is never simple. When you come from a drug gang background and your brothers run the Insurrection on several worlds. When ONI get involved and recruit you to the ODSTs. When the war as you know it is flipped on your head, you end up not caring about it. War is never simple.
1. Burnt Back

Matthew Drastly

My War

_Hey guys I realised that many people left after the first chapter so I decided to add to it to make it more interesting._

_So if you have already read the first chapter, read it again! Tell me what you think, if it is an improvement or not!_

_Cheers_

_SpartanHoplite _

The soft sun kissed my face as I looked over the gloomy city of Hernly on Levosia. I was leaving my home for the first time. The only girl had loved had died yesterday. An innie bombing the soldiers at the recruitment booth had told me. My brothers had come home after the bombing chatting about it and how well they had planned it. I made my decision then, I was joining the UNSC. Now here I was one day later about to board a pelican and head to some god-forsaken planet for training. Then again any god-forsaken planet was better than this one.

"Cadet!" Yelled the pilot of the pelican.

I turned around from the city and didn't look back. I was going to start another life and find a new planet to call home. I walked towards the pelican, I was the only recruit, and this was because of the war with the Covenant. While everyone else from other planets were joining the UNSC, the young men and women from Levosia were joining the innies because they thought they would have a better chance of surviving. I boarded the pelican and sat down in the closest seat to the bay door. I didn't look back as the bay door rose and sealed the ship shut.

"Get up cadet!" Screamed the Staff Sergeant. "Did I say you could start having babies with the mud yet?"

Staff Sergeant Kiligan was hard and mean. He had served a couple of years against the innies before retiring. When the Covenant invaded he was requested to train the new recruits. Now here he was in my face yelling at me for slipping.

"Sorry Staff Sarg!" I yelled back before getting back up and running through the obstacle course.

The army obstacle course was a hellhole. Some wouldn't even consider it an obstacle course. It was covered in mud and only had a few logs to jump over. Yet there was always something worse. There the standard crawl under barbed-wire drill, but ours was different. If we didn't make it through the barbed wire in a certain amount of time we were shot with Tactical Training Rounds (TTY) and they hurt like a fucking bitch when aren't wearing armour.

"Faster god damnit! I'm going to look forward to shooting you today cadet!" Staff Sergeant Kiligan yelled at me.

"Yes Staff Sarg!"

I had been dragged out of bed early than usual today due to stealing one of the Staff Sergeants Sweet Williams Cigars. It was worth it though, the Cigar was great and I told myself afterwards that I would buy of box of the expensive Cigars after training. Well that was until Staff Sarg found the used Cigar outside my training block and looked over surveillance videos to find it was me.

"Are you going to steal another Cigar soldier?" He yelled at me.

"Yes sir!" I yelled back to piss him off.

I had just finished climbing over several logs when the Staff Sargent shot me in the leg with a TTY. I yelped in pain and dropped onto my knee. The red paint had splattered all over the leg of my training overalls. The sedative in the bullet slowly kicked in and I couldn't feel my leg anymore.

"Now complete the goddamn course in 15 minutes or I'm shooting you in the other leg!"

This time I complied and stood up dragging my numb leg behind me. Under normal circumstances, if you want to call getting yelled at and shot at normal, I would have been able to complete the course in just under 10 minutes, but when you are actually shot with a TTY round in the leg it took me 14 minutes to complete the course.

"That was fucking terrible!" The Staff Sargent yelled. "Now go clean yourself off and then join back with the rest of your unit for the usual day's training.

It took me 5 minutes to drag myself back to my unit's block and shower. I began to start feeling my leg a bit again. The rest of my unit looked at me disappointedly as I came out of the shower. They were all inner colony boys trying to make a name for themselves and there families in the army. Most of them were just taking basic training before going off to Officer Training Colleges. I only had one friend in my unit, James. He had come from some planet out of the extreme border of UNSC controlled space. The UNSC hadn't even had time to name the planet before James joined the army. He was tall and broad, dark hair and dark eyes, the perfect soldier. As for me well I was taller and broader but I had blonde hair and blue eyes, which wasn't ideal when you wanted to sneak up on an enemy.

"Sarg catch you with his Cigars again?" James chuckled.

I chuckled as well while nodding. It hadn't been the first time that I had stolen a Cigar, but it was the first time I had been caught.

I placed my training overalls in the sink to let them soak. It was 5 in the morning and we had 2 hours before training actually started. I could run outside in my PJs and then eat breakfast; by that time my overall would be clean. I very smart aren't I.

"So I guess you're running in your PJs and then eating breakfast? Come back here and then your gear is ready, yea?" James asked me.

My smiled disappeared and I turned away to get my PJs. James started laughing as he knew I was thinking the exact same thing and felt smart. My PJs were warm, but they were warm for the inside. They weren't meant for outside use and the Army made sure of that.

The door busted open and in-came the Staff Sergeant. "Good morning ladies! How do you feel about a bit of combat training today" No one replied. "Splendid! We're doing beach training today! So make sure you have your overalls all ready because today is going to be very cold!" The Staff Sargent looked at me and winked. He had a wicked smile on his face.

The whole unit turned around and looked at me. I just stood there wearing my PJs. "Well fuck" I muttered under my breath.

The small boat that we were using chugged along towards the coastline. Everyone looked nice and warm in his or her overalls while I was freezing my but off in my PJs. James patted my shoulder and pointed out the marker on the beach. A small smile appeared on my face, it was whipped away by the wind as I shivered.

"Drop in 30 seconds!" Yelled the driver who was also one of the instructors at the training camp.

I looked towards the coastline and I knew it was about a minute away, which meant we were going to do some swimming. The other members of my unit sat on the other side of the small rubber boat and chuckled a bit while looking at me.

"I still perform better than all you little privileged shits any day!" I yelled over the sound of the wind and engine.

They understood the threat and went back to bickering amongst themselves.

"Drop now!" The driver yelled.

I looked over the side of the boat and saw the dark, cold water staring back at me. "Fuck it!" I yelled before jumping in.

My weapon held tight onto my back as the unrelenting sea thrashed me around. I looked back at the boat. The inner colony boys and girls were unsure about the water but the instructor came from behind and shoved them in. James was already swimming towards shore. I began to follow him forcing my cold numbing muscles to push on.

We reached the shore and came under simulated fire. We ourselves were given live ammunition during the exercise. It took us a minute to reach the beach and we waded quickly out of the water towards a rise in the ground that we could use for cover.

The other units had been dropped on other area along the beach. I saw some of their unconscious bodies lying in the sand while others were firing back at the simulated targets.

"I got a jam!" I heard a soldier yell.

A second later I saw red paint splatter all over his helmet. He immediately dropped and rolled down from the rise in the ground into the sand. I didn't look for long as now the fire was switched to me. I ducked down and waited for the automated guns to acquire a new target.

"Now Matthew!" I heard James yell.

I lifted from my position and placed my rifle on top of the ground. My rifle was an old SRS99 that had defiantly seen much better days. The but of the gun was missing and the parts inside the gun were old and looked like they would fall apart any second. The previous owner of this rifle obviously didn't take of it. I took aim at one of the targets and fired. The bullet flew true and straight hitting the target straight in the bulls' eye. I didn't take the time to celebrate as I switched targets and aimed at a barely visible target that was hiding behind a mound of sand. I fired and the bullet connected as sweetly as the other.

"Look out!" I heard a cadet yell.

I looked up to see TTR grenades being lobbed high into the air. I rolled over and covered my head. I prepared to get knocked out when I heard a grenade hit the sand next to me. I waited 5 seconds before I got curious. I looked up and saw the grenade sitting in the sand like it belonged there. It didn't explode. I quickly picked it up and tossed it over the rise in the ground only to hear it explode a couple of seconds later. I rolled over and went full spread eagle on the sand and puff out air. That was close I told myself. I started to laugh a bit while lying in the dirt before James who was still firing punched me in the shoulder.

"Alight fine. Take your tampon out goddamnit." I said.

I rolled back over and crawled back up to my position. My gun was still in the same place I had left it in. I place my hands on it again and looked down the scope. I shifted a bit to get into a more comfortable position before spotting a target in a makeshift bunker slightly to the right of my position.

"Fire for fuck sake Matthew!" James screamed at me who was taking fire from that bunker.

I took a deep breath and exhaled. I finished exhaling and my scope rested on its target. I pulled the trigger and heard a slight ting coming from the metal target as my bullet passed through it. I saw a glint from the sun reflecting of binoculars, it came from the direction of the instructors' bunker. They were watching me. I now focused more on the battle and looked for another target. I spotted one that was wide-open on top of a mound of sand. I pulled the trigger without thinking. I heard a click as the bullet jammed.

"Shit! I got a jam! Cover me!" I shouted at James.

With James nodding in agreement I turned around with my rifle and began disassembling it. I saw that the entire mechanism was clogged with sand. I blew into the parts separately ridding the sand from them. I the quickly put the gun back together. I loaded the clip back in and took aim once again. I found the same target and fired quickly.

"Aghhhh shit!" I screamed as the bullet backfired and shot straight through my shoulder.

I dropped my gun and clutched my shoulder. Blood was coming out fast and I had no idea what to do. We hadn't started medical training yet. My pain was quickly ended as I heard another cry as grenades were once again fired at us. The grenade that landed near me this time worked properly and exploded. I fell unconscious.

I was inside the medical facility getting my arm wrapped up when two men in black overall walked in. One of them carried a clipboard and the both were armed with stun batons. They were not MPs because of their uniforms but they were still military I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"ONI." One of the men introduced himself with hand held out.

I nodded. "Private security then I'm guessing?" I accepted the handshake with my damaged arm.

The doctor forced my arm back down with a grunt while still trying to wrap it. The other ONI man nodded in response to my question.

"What can I do for you?" I asked.

The ONI man took out a pen and clicked it.

"We just need to learn a few things about your past." He said. "After todays performance the Army and ONI were interested in your background."

"Wait my performance? You mean how well I can shoot myself in the arm?" I nodded at the hole that was being bandaged.

"No, no. We mean your sniping skills. We had already known that you had a talent in it when you and your unit started weapons training, yet after today you posses something that only one other person had possessed. That person was part of a classified project. So we were just wondering about some things."

I nodded. "Fire away."

"Your last name is Drastly yes?" He asked.

"Aye." I nodded.

"Related to Miranda Drastly?" He questioned quickly.

"Aye, she was my aunt. She died when I was 2. Innie bombing." I replied.

The man quickly wrote this down and clicked his pen again putting it away. "Thank you Cadet, that's all we needed to know."

"Wait was my aunt a sniper?" I asked.

Both men turned around and hastily left the room closing the door behind them. I sat there looking at the door. My aunt was someone important, or maybe she was related to someone important. I had seen her body though. A flash clone maybe to replace her body? The doctor slapped my shoulder hard causing me to winch. "Good as new. Now I need you to rest for 4 days before returning to your unit." The doctor told me.

I nodded. "I appreciate the rest doc."

He nodded back and left the room. I suddenly felt tired from today's early morning obstacle course and then shooting myself in the shoulder. This would be a good time to grab some nice warm shuteye on a soft bed. I put the fact about my aunt to the side of my mind.

I woke; it wasn't a nice awaking, for it was the sound of gunfire. I cursed under my breath as I dragged myself out of the hospital bed. Outside my fellow recruits were at the firing range, the guns we used were a step down from what the deployed armed forces used, but they did the job. I wasn't due out of hospital for another 2 days, I rubbed the now scar on my shoulder where a bullet passed through, the downside of second hand weapons. My rifle at the time had been missing part of its butt yet my instructor didn't mind it.

2 days ago I had been run through muddy water up onto a beach and placed under pressure while firing on targets with live ammo. The water and sand caused my gun to jam, after spending several minutes taking apart my rifle and putting it back together I took aim again. This time though when I pulled the trigger the bullet shot backwards, it was partly my fault as I had placed a few parts the wrong way around when I was putting my rifle back together.

Now to me my arm felt great. I swung it around a few times to warm up the joint and muscles. I winced a few times before stopping. I looked around the room to find no doctors or other patients. I smiled to my self and proceeded to preform fighting actions in front of a mirror. I knew it was corny at the time but I hadn't had the time in the past to admire the growth in my muscles. After a few rounds of flexing in the mirror I returned to my bed next to the window. The sun was beginning to rise. I watched it rise as the other recruits jogged off in line. Probably going to do some runs through the obstacle course. I once again returned to the mirror to admire my muscle tone.

"Damn I look good." I said to myself.

I flexed a bit more before I heard a giggle from behind me. I turned around not breaking my pose and saw a nurse standing in a doorway behind me. I blushed a bit and broke out into a little grin.

"Yes, you do look good." Giggled the nurse.

I realized I hadn't had any contact with a woman for 6 months. I felt excited and my body showed it a bit too much. The nurse giggled some more as she noticed it too. My body was growing tired of holding a flexed pose. Feeling quiet embarrassed I stood up and looked away. I took a quick glance at the nurse again she was about a 7 or 8. She walked up close to me I began feeling nervous. 6 months was a long time without physical contact with a woman. The last time was with my girlfriend, and technically I was still in a relationship but I couldn't resist. I looked up, well technically I looked down because I was a towering 6ft 4. I looked the nurse straight in the eyes she had blue eyes with green specks. I bent my neck to the side as I grabbed her waist and pulled her closer. Our lips connected, I felt her hand run down from my chest past my abs and nearly reaching into my pants. I stopped making out with her and looked her in the eyes. Her hand didn't reach into my pants, and she put on an evil smile. Her other hand had an injector in it. She stabbed me in the back of the neck with it injecting the fluid. I groaned as I stepped away from her.

"Bitch. Ah god. For fuck sake." I moaned.

"Don't worry honey, I'm just as disappointed as you are." She replied.

I sat down on a chair behind me, still rubbing the back on my neck.

"Hmmm, your lasting longer than you should've." She mentioned.

Her accent was defiantly inner colony. She had the skin tone for it as well. She looked about 19. She was probably trying to prove something to her rich family or something with joining the UNSC. Then her statement hit me.

"Wait. Are you trying to knock me out?" I asked.

At this point she was becoming worried. What she didn't realize is that I grew up on Levosia. It may be a pro-insurrectionist planet but I hated it. Mainly because growing up there had forced me into the drug business to keep alive. Those drugs, which I had taken regularly, now had a lasting effect on me of high tolerance.

"Who wanted me drugged?" I grunted as I stood up straight.

Two men entered the room wearing ONI spook overalls. The looked startled to see me standing.

"You were supposed to drug him!" shouted one of the men, obviously directed at the nurse.

"I did. I gave him more than a full dosage. He hasn't seemed to effect him!" The nurse said in her defense.

I looked around for a weapon, just like I had been taught about a week ago. All I saw were a pair of bandage scissors which couldn't harm a fly. Meanwhile one of the ONI spooks revealed a shock baton. I stood there helpless. I had been in a situation like this back on Levosia during a drug run gone bad but even then I had a knife with me. The ONI spook obviously was scared of attacking me; I used this to my advantage.

"Recruit! I order you to stand down!" The spook yelled.

I took a step forward, the spook to a step backwards. The other spook was at a loss of what to do. The spook with the baton lunged at me, it was a clumsy lunge which ended up with me side stepping and knocking him to the floor. The shock baton rolled across the floor before I picked it up. The nurse had long since run out of the room, most probably to get help. Well help for the spooks, not me.

I was still shirtless when I opened the door to a winter's day on Reach. My first breath of fresh air for 3 days happened to be one when I was on the run. Outside the medical complex was a convoy of ONI trucks. Guards who had been resting or having a smoke now stood dumbstruck. A man got out of the lead truck looked at me.

"That's him you idiots! After him!" The man yelled.

That was my cue to start running and so I did. I started towards my barracks, which was 2 kilometers on the other side of camp. I went full sprint as guards pulled out their shock batons while yelling at each other. The guards were in a mess as I ran in-between two of them. The large green grass field in front of me was used for practice marches. Right now it had a very thin layer of pure white snow. I bound across it barefoot with ONI guards in pursuit. I never knew I could sprint at this speed; I must have been doing 20 kph. The feeling of running without the heavy burden of armour was great and I found myself more agile.

"Hey! Kid! Stop! We just want to talk!" shouted the man who was obviously in control of the guards.

I looked over my shoulder to see that some of the guards had been smart enough to get into the trucks and drive after me. I slid to a stop and turned around. The guards then proceeded to make a semi-circle round me. They were all armed with batons. I turned on the shock baton that I had in my hand before taking a combat stance.

"You want me! All you had to do was ask nicely!" I yelled in the direction of the man who was hanging on the side of one of the trucks.

"Now I guess I don't like you. I'm not going without a fight!" I then yelled towards all of the guards.

At this current moment in time, the other recruits came jogging around the corner. The first rows didn't notice the stand off but before long the recruits were shouting my name. The Staff Sargent attempted to gain control over his recruits but without success.

Two guards began making their way towards me, their batons raised. They closed in on me. I took a step back before lunging at one. I missed completely and got a shock to my back, I attempted to rise to defend myself but I was shocked again and again and again. I could feel the electricity run though my veins. The guard enhanced the pain my shocking different places on my back leaving burn marks. This time I cursed my resistance I acquired to shock batons, courtesy of the lovey Levosia police.

"You fuckers! I'll fucking rip your balls off!" I screamed.

The guards lifted me with my hands behind my back. One of the guards leaned close to my ear.

"ONI is going to rip your balls off kid." He whispered before chuckling.

I smacked the back of my head into his face breaking his nose. The guard cried out and released his hold on me. I took a step back so I was behind the guard clutching his nose on the floor. I took a shock baton from his belt and shocked him in the neck for longer than would be healthy. The guard screamed before passing out. My fellow recruits cheered as this happened. Out of the corner of my eye I think I even saw the Staff Sergeant grin at the sign of private security being knocked out by a UNSC army recruit. Maybe he was even proud of me. I saw one of the junior trainers have his holopad out videoing the event. I dropped the shock baton and raised my hands. Turning to the group of recruits I shouted:

"UNSC Army recruit, whoops private security ass!" Imitating a news anchor.

The recruits cheered and I think the Staff Sergeant laughed a bit. Soon my world went dark as multiple shock batons struck me.

If I didn't mention before, my name is Matthew Drastly.


	2. Heroes to Friends

I once again woke on a hospital bed. All I could see was the ceiling and it was spinning. That wasn't a good sign. I groaned as I lifted myself up and lent back against the wall. The air in this room was stale and all the light was artificial due to the fact that there were no windows. Several spots on my back stung as I stretched, it was the burn marks where the guards had shocked me. There were two guards in seats, which were next to my bed. There were two more beds in the room. One was empty but the bed at the far end of the room had a guard in it. I recognized the mark on the guard's neck. It was the place where I held the shock baton for too long. I laughed out loud.

"Quiet you." One of the guards muttered.

The same guard stood up and walked to one of the machines next to my bed. He pressed one of the buttons a few times and I started to feel myself drifting away.

"Bastard…" I muttered before I went black again.

I woke up again. I was sitting in a chair, with a full Army dress uniform on. I rubbed my eyes as they went blurry. I picked the small bits of sleep out of my eyes before looking where I was. I knew where I was as soon as I saw the window. Sydney, Australia. This is where my grandfather migrated from when he moved to Levosia, I wonder if he knew how much of a shithole would become. Sometimes I imagine what my life would be like if he stayed on Earth.

"Corporal! Glad to see that you are finally awake." Said a voice.

"What? Corporal? Sir or Ma'am, there must be a misunderstanding." I muttered.

I turned around in the chair to see a Major sitting in a chair. I quickly stood up and saluted. If this was the man that had been shocked 20 times then I didn't want to piss him off more.

"At ease Corporal. Please sit down. We need to, how would you say… discuss recent events." The Major had a slight threatening tone.

"Yes Sir." I said as I took a seat.

The Major stared at me for a couple of moments. His eyes examined my body and then he looked me straight in the eye. The Major had a vibe that he knew to many things. I looked into his eyes and I knew right then and there that he had see too much. For a long 5 seconds we stared each other down. Then he broke off the stare and chuckled.

"You have her eyes." He muttered.

"I'm sorry? Who's eyes are we talking about here?" I questioned.

"It doesn't matter now. Yet I need to ask something from you Corporal." The Major asked.

"Sir?"

"Do you feel different, you know to the other recruits. During training are you faster or stronger than any of them?"

I sat there dumbstruck. Why would he be asking me these things? I didn't even know how to answer the question. I never though myself different to the other soldiers, sure I could knock one or two down without effort but some matched up to me. I ran generally at the same speed, though we had never raced. I had completed the obstacle course in just above average time but that wasn't uncommon. It had been about a minute after the Major had asked the question when I answered.

"No Sir. From what I can remember I am just above average. Though some of the other recruits match me at that."

The Major hummed to himself for seconds before reaching into his desk. I took this time to sum the Major up. He looked about mid-fifties, ish. He was wearing Naval dress uniform but he had ODST shoulder armour on. His face looked like it had seen better days. His eyes had bags under them; his cheeks were nearly complete white and his lips looked chapped.

"Is there something on my face solider?" Said the Major sternly.

"No Sir, just staring off into space." I replied.

The Major nodded and returned to going through the numerous holopads. He was most defiantly from Earth, German by the accent. His hair was a mix of white and blonde showing his age. The Major now looked satisfied as he found the holopad he was looking for.

"Corporal, do you excel in any particular weaponry?"

"Yes" I replied without thinking.

"And that would be?"

"Sniper Sir. Best out of my group, set the camp record twice in 6 months."

"Ah I thought so. Well I'll tell you one thing before you leave. You have very rare DNA. You are related down the line to someone very special to the UNSC and the war-effort." The Major added.

The Major took 10 more seconds to look at me before saying:

"Dismissed."

"Sir?"

"Ah yes I forgot. Corporal you will finish your training here in Sydney before being chosen by either ODST's or Army Rangers. You won't have a choice I'm afraid, direct order from HIGHCOM at the top of this tower. There will be a solider waiting for you in the lobby. Dismissed." The Major finished before turning away to work on the holopad.

I saluted and walked out of the room. I was in a corridor that was it. I had no idea where I was and the corridor was just plain. Concrete and artificial lighting that would make an architect cry. I didn't know the way to the elevator. I did a quick jog down each path, nothing. That was until I heard people coming. It was two ONI spooks, not the ones that I had made a mess of but just ONI spooks. They walked closer down not seeing me at all.

"Oi spooks. Which way to the elevator?" I impolitely asked.

They stood there offended. I didn't care for it; I had had enough of ONI for a lifetime. Then the spooks tried to quickly walk past me, I moved to block their path and moved closer so I was towering over them.

"Where." I grunted.

One of the spooks pointed in the direction that they were walking and took a step back so he was further away from me. The ONI spooks probably out-ranked me by quiet a lot. Luckily they weren't familiar to the Army Dress Uniform. I smiled and took a step back.

"Thank you." I finished and turned to walk away.

I made it to the elevator 2 minutes later after passing metal door after metal door. I pressed the button to call the elevator and stood there waiting for another minute. I took that time to examine the parts of my body that I could see or feel. My hair was way beyond regulation length but I liked it this way and I would try and keep it for as long as possible. The rest of my body was the same as it had been when I left Reach, whenever that was. Hell I didn't even know what date it was. The elevator opened and two Naval officers walked out. One was about a 4 but the other was around a 7. As they walked out I did the half grin smile thing that girls liked. I heard her whisper to her friend as soon as my back was facing her and I was in the elevator. I smiled to my self before pressing the G button. The doors closed and the elevator jolted as we headed down the massive building, which was HIGHCOM. We were on floor 76 so I decided to lean against the elevator wall. There were two other men in the elevator both were private security. The one closest to me was unremarkable and looked like another bored guard. The elevator stopped on level 30 and both of the guards proceeded to leave, I noticed a massive red patch on the other guard's neck.

"Nice scar, my first art piece." I said as they left the elevator.

The doors began to close but were stopped by a hand. In came both guards again. They looked slightly pissed.

"I'm sorry? What did you say to me recruit?" Grunted the guard.

The doors closed as the other guard pressed the close button. They both closed in on me. It didn't work on intimidating me because of their size. They were both 3 inches shorter than me.

"That's Corporal to you civilian." I threatened.

Soldiers usually called private security forces civilians because they didn't register as anything else in the UNSC chain of command. They were outsiders. This also meant that anyone over the rank of PFC had authority over them if their acting CO or XO wasn't around. Which meant due to my recent promotion I was in charge of these assholes.

"Yep that's right. Corporal, which means I control you until a higher-ranking solider gets in this elevator or you two get off and use the stairs. The guard that I didn't zap pressed the open door button and we slowed to a stop and the doors opened for the 9th floor. The guard that I did zap however was still staring me down (well up in his case because I was a solid 3 inches taller). His buddy pulled on his arm and he broke away. The elevator doors closed once again and I started to head down again. The doors finally opened to the ground floor and I stepped out. It was extremely busy and I was not in the mood for looking around for my escort.

"For fuck sake." I muttered to myself.

I started to walk in between the crowd and reached the front doors of the building. The massive class doors opened as I neared. I exited the build and took my first breath of Earth air I was rather disappointed in it. The air was quiet, air like air. I checked my pockets and found my wallet and phone, both of which had been taken from me upon entering Basic Training. I walked to a hamburger shop across the wide Sydney Street. The hamburger joint had perfect placement, they made quick burgers that meant UNSC staff could come down and quickly get a bite to eat before getting back to work. It was a very smart move by the owner, as they must be pulling in a lot of revenue.

I grabbed a hamburger and put it on my UNSC card. They obviously stopped asking for names and ID numbers long before I came about. I took a bite of the hamburger and chewed on it for a bit. The taste was new to me; I had never had a proper hamburger before, dog/cat burgers on Levosia don't count.

I had taken a seat and had finished my burger long before a woman sat next to me. From what I could see from the corner of my eye was that she was young about 19 and very attractive. I didn't turn my head because for all I knew she could be a bloody Vice Admiral or something.

"Do you want to finish what we started?" she asked me.

I turned my head to look at whom this girl was. It was the nurse from Reach, I didn't know weather to smile or groan. The next thing I knew we were in my temporary accommodation 5 floors underneath HIGHCOM, and she was on top of me.

I woke up with fingernail marks across my chest and a very happy face. 6 months I told myself laughing in my head, 6 bloody months. The nurse was next to me hogging the entire sheet, but I could still get a pretty good view. I got out of bed and explored my little room. I had a double bed, a double locker, a couple of storage chests and a bathroom. I walked into the bathroom and took a piss. Just for the hell of it I took a shower as well. I finished and walked out of the shower with nothing on not even a towel. Outside were two ONI girls. They couldn't look me in the eye as I walked toward my locker that had a spare change of clothes in it.

I nodded at each of them as I left my room fully dressed. I found myself in a mess hall with around 100 men eating and messing around. I knew at first glance I was going to like this.

I sat and ate my meal without saying a word like a good boy and then headed down to where last nights entertainment was stationed. From what I could see each one of the ONI officers was in charge of the training and development of several men. Although most of these men were battle hardened ODST's and Rangers they still needed to keep in shape while not in combat.

My overseer was named Lissie, a name that I had previously forgotten to learn. 2 men in pure white BDU's came and took me away to where I would be trained.

"Nice to meet you to." I muttered as they each held one of my arms.

I was dragged into a room which completely bare, well apart from the tiles on the floor and a drain. I knew what was going to happen. The men stripped me down to my underwear and I was hosed down. I closed my eyes while it happened. The water felt weird as it ran off my skin, the hose stopped and I opened my eyes. They hadn't been hosing me down with water it was mud. The men now had armour in their hands as they closed in on me. The armour wasn't Army or Marine, I could see that much. One guard produced a shock baton from behind his back.

"Son of a bit…" I couldn't finish my words before I hit the floor.

My head hurt from hitting the tiled floor. The armour on me was hard and itchy, compliments of the mud. I couldn't see anything but I knew I was in a box of some sort. I moved my hands around to find an opening or anything that would help me for that matter. I felt a shudder and then I felt weightless. 0g training maybe, my thoughts were shattered as I my legs suddenly fell back onto the floor. The box started to heat up and it was shaking like crazy. Then the box slowed a bit before smashing into the ground.

"What the fuck is this?' I muttered to myself.

A door opened in front of me flooding the box or capsule as I saw now. I examined the capsule it looked slightly familiar like I had seen it in a video or something. Then it hit me, ODST. A rifle was snug in a compartment next to the opened door. I smiled to myself; this is going to be fun. I grabbed the rifle and took a step outside of the capsule. A felt a thud hit my chest followed by several other thuds hitting my torso area. I saw an ODST in full BDU slowly walk closer to me. It took a couple of seconds before my body gave in to the tranquilizer, which was incorporated into my training body armour. I felt myself drifting away.

I woke again in a dark capsule. This time I knew what was going to happen. The capsule landed and the door opened, I grabbed the rifle and sprinted outside of the capsule. My eyes adjusted to the light, I found myself on a hill well it felt like hill. I heard the sound of equipment hitting together. The fucking ODST who shot me last time, well that who I thought it was. I moved to behind my capsule.

"This time, your mine bitch." I muttered to myself.

I had been muttering to myself a lot recently. I had never done it before; maybe I needed to go see a shrink or something. The sound of equipment was closer now but slower.

"This is Kiligan. No sign of the rookie. He might have moved off the hill." Said the ODST.

"Roger, I can't wait to zap his ass." This statement was followed by a couple of chuckles on the radio. "Hey guys did you hear Lissie slept with that guy. Like I mean she always seems like a stuck up bitch."

"Very funny guys, now let's find this dickhe…" The ODST never got to finish his sentence.

I walked out of my cover and fired at the ODST. I didn't care where they landed as long as he went down I was happy. My first few shots zip past his torso followed by 4 shots to the chest and a shot to his abdomen. The ODST gasped in shock before hitting the ground. Dirt rose from the ground as the massive ODST struggled to get back up. I walked up to him and put my foot on his chest.

"No, my turn." I told the ODST.

I aimed my rifle at the ODST's helmet and pulled the trigger. The ODST's body went limp as the paint dripped from his visor. I immediately felt joy and happiness. I had beaten an ODST, a motherfucking ODST. I started running around.

"Matthew Drastly, wonder solider takes out a motherfucking ODST!" I mocked.

I jumped and thrust my fist into the air, before being smashed in the chest and pushed 5 metres backwards. I landed on my back gasping for air as the shot had pushed the air out of my lungs. Once again I felt myself drift away.

"For fuck sa…" I passed out.

This was the routine for the next month. That and physical training, which included weight lifting, running marathons and more intense combat training. At the end of the month (which I found out was September meaning it had been 3 months since I left Reach) I was allowed a week of rest, but I wasn't allowed to leave Sydney. I left the below ground training facility around 6 pm and found myself 4 hours later in a military pub. Inside were ODST's and Rangers laughing and drinking with each other. It was funny because on the field they were know to start fights with each other in camps and sometimes even during battles.

"So I had 2 banshees on my tail right." One of the ODST's was saying. "And I was driving as fast as I could. I though I was going to die right. So I slammed my foot on the brakes and watched the banshees fly over me. I got up onto the gun and started firing. The banshees turned around and started a run back at me. I was screaming and the lot." I zoned out after the ODST continued about a teddy bear involved and a tree that flew and hit a banshee.

Right now all I could care about was where my friends were, and if they were still alive. Basic Training was now 8 months so that the UNSC could put more men on the field. So that meant that his friends had been deployed for nearly over a month. One of the Rangers said something to me but I was too much in deep thought to notice.

"Solider! I'm talking to you!" He shouted in my ear.

I snapped out of my thought and turned to the Ranger who was standing next to my seat.

"Sorry Sir. I wasn't paying attention." I stated as I stood up and gave a weak salute.

"It's alright boy. Now I was just asking you if you had any stories of your own to share." He asked.

I shook my head and I felt a bit embarrassed when I knew that I had never seen an inch of real combat.

"No Sir. I haven't seen any combat apart from a small fight with ONI private security on Reach Sir." I replied.

The Ranger burst out laughing and so did the rest of the soldiers in the room. Even the bartender was laughing. He was probably a ex-solider from the Rain Forest Wars by the look of his scars which were riddled across his face.

"That little fight was you!" The Ranger shouted before bursting out laughing again.

The Ranger turned to the Bartender struggling to stay in control of his laughing.

"John! I'm buying this solider a drink!" He shouted.

The rest of the soldiers cheered at this. I was like a celebrity to them; for once I didn't feel like a pawn. ODST's and Ranger's alike gave me pats on the back before I received my beer.

"So, Corporal, what actually happened?" The ranger asked while the rest of the room settled down.

I told them about the ONI girl and then how they tried to kidnap me. They laughed at the bit about running across a snow-covered field barefoot and asked to see the burn scars on my back from getting zapped. The highlight of the story was zapping the guard though which got me pats on the back and a few more soldiers buying me rounds. The rest of the night consisted of hearing about war stories from ODST's and Ranger's, some of which were funny while other we stood silently and did a silent toast to the soldiers that we had lost. I left with the other soldiers around 2 am as we walked (well saying we walked was pushing it, we stumbled was more like it) back to HIGHCOM. A few soldiers couldn't hold their stomachs and threw up outside the HIGHCOM building. We stumbled in the front doors to find the lobby as equally busy as it was during the day. ONI and Naval Officers alike moved out of our way. Army and Marine Officers weren't so forgiving and we race for the stairs before we got caught. A few ODST's and Rangers were too drunk to make in time before being caught. I on the other hand with my tolerance made it just in time. I made it to my bed and passed out.

_Hey guys, don't worry if you think this is all going to be about what goes on at HIGHCOM and ONI behind the scenes stuff. There is tons of action in the chapters ahead._

_SpartanHoplite_


	3. New Home

The pelican took off from the roof of HIGHCOM. Everyone on board was quiet. It was the end of their leave and it was the start of my war. My training had finished a week ago; it was the end of 6 months of training. The Rangers and ODSTs who were on the Pelican with me were not those who I had befriended 5 months ago. I had kept in contact with some of them, yet eventually they stopped replying. At first I thought that they were in the thick of combat but then I received a message.

"_Too whom this may concern. The following soldiers: Lance Corporal Jones, Lance Corporal Hunt, Sergeant Amêratovic, Staff Sergeant Pots. Have died in combat, Staff Sergeant Pots and Lance Corporal Hunt will receive medal ceremonies for their heroic actions in the field."_

That was a month ago now. I had attended the medal ceremonies and for Lance Corporal Hunt who was the Ranger who I had befriended in the pub I had to write a speech. I found out that Hunt whose first name was Link, didn't have much of a close family. At his medal ceremony for a Bronze Star only his Father and Sister were present. Along with a dozen of his fellow Rangers and a few ODSTs. I was the only non Special Forces solider there. I felt awkward when I said my speech before saluting and stepping down. At that moment I was thinking. Would my parents even bother to leave Levosia to come to my funeral, would my brothers. I knew my brothers would most probably not because they joined the Insurrectionists when I was 10. Had they only known the alien threat at the time they might of joined the UNSC.

It was the first time I had known a solider that had lost his life in the war. I probably knew a few others such as my fellow recruits back on Reach but I didn't know for sure that they were dead. I didn't cry at this, I didn't really feel much emotion. I only knew Link for 2 months before he was deployed.

Now I myself was being deployed. I still hadn't been chosen by the ODSTs or Rangers like the Major had said. Now that I think about it he said that I was related to someone important. Who would that be? I knew from his questions it couldn't have been a high ranking General or what not. It was someone more solider like. My train of thought was cut off by the hissing sound of the pelican becoming pressurized. Soon I felt my body lift as we entered zero gravity. The Pelican had no windows so I had no idea what ship I was going to be stationed on. For the next couple of minutes I held myself down to my seat. The Pelican leveled out before landing inside my new home. Gravity returned to normal and the bay door at the back of the Pelican opened.

The Hanger bay was bustling with activity. Marines and Army alike were moving around. The name of the ship was on one of the Hangar wall, UNSC _Musashi_.

I was on a goddamn carrier. A small bit of adrenaline rushed through my veins as I looked around the Hanger. It was huge, with multiple pelicans on the floor as well as hanging from transportation claws above our heads. Massive amount of weaponry was being pushed around and delivered to different pelicans and hornets.

"_Ranger and ODST arrivals. Please make you way to Hanger Bay 6." _Announced the speaker.

I followed the Rangers and ODSTs to Hanger Bay 6 that just happened to be halfway up the ship. The UNSC _Musashi _was 3 kilometers long meaning we had to walk 1.5 kilometers to reach it. The ODSTs and Rangers had their armour and BDUs on as they walked down the corridors. Army, Marines and Naval personal alike moved aside into other corridors to let the ODSTs and Rangers through. I felt small as I walked with them.

We finally got to Hangar Bay 6. I was expecting ODSTs and Rangers to be walking around and there to be pelican after pelican with hotshot pilots. In front of me was a poor excuse for a hangar. Sitting there waiting for us were 2 pelicans which looked worse for wear and so did the pilots. We walked down some stairs leading to the level where the pelicans were parked. The pilots looked at us and shrugged, they stood up and put out their cigarettes before walking to the cockpits of their respective pelican.

I was completely underwhelmed at what was provided for the ODSTs and Rangers. The two groups of Special Forces didn't seem to care as they split up ad walked into their pelicans. I stopped and stood there not knowing which group I was with.

"Hey kid! Your with from here on out!" Yelled one of the ODST's over the sound of the pelican's engines warming up.

I nodded and jogged to the pelican that the ODST's were on. I took my seat as the bay door closed and the compartment pressurized. I was disappointed about not being able to become a Ranger. Ever since Link's funeral I wanted to become one. I wanted to follow in his footsteps and become a hero to a kid like he had become a hero to me. Right now I had a picture of him and myself after a night at the pub, now that I was going to become an ODST I swore to myself that I would never lose that picture.

We landed now on a different ship. I hoped to myself it was a large significant ship like a carrier or cruiser. The bay doors opened and I proceeded to leave.

I got out of the pelican and looked around to find the name of the ship. The paint on the wall of the hangar had nearly worn off completely. There were scorch marks where the 'UNSC' part of the name should have been. The hangar was full of scorch marks as well as dents in the metal where needler rounds had hit.

"Corporal Drastly!" A voice shouted.

"That would be me!" I shouted back in no general direction holding up my hand.

"Over here Corporal." The voice was now closer.

I turned around and all I could see was engineers and pilots walking around.

"I'm right here Corporal." The voice was now right behind me.

I turned to face a Lieutenant and nearly stumbled backwards at the sight of how close he was.

"Let's take a walk Corporal." Said the Lieutenant.

He started to walk towards the hangar stairs and away from all the hangar activity.

"My name is Lieutenant Obergon. I am in charge of you and the other 11 ODSTs on this ship. That means you are my bitch, and my bitches are loyal. You understanding me bitch?" The Lieutenant stated.

"Yes Sir." I replied.

"Ok then bitch. You are the least experienced of my bitches that means that you will report to the firing range and the gym 5 times a day each. Is that alright with you bitch?"

"Yes Sir."

At this point the Lieutenant and I had climbed the stairs and had reached an elevator. The Lieutenant stepped inside the elevator and turned to face me. His face was worried.

"Corporal, please try not to die." He said before the doors closed.

I nodded at the now closed doors. I heard laughter coming from the corridor that I had just walked down. I turned around and saw the 5 other ODSTs that I had come with.

"Oi Drastly! This way to the room!" Shouted one of them.

The ODSTs had seemed to brighten up ever since we left Sydney. I moved down the hallway to find my fellow ODSTs entering a room. The room itself was larger than other living quarters on the ship due to it housing 6 massive ODST well 5 and then there's me. It had 6 beds (no bunks because of the weight of an average ODST), 6 lockers and 1 bathroom.

"Rookie has door bed!" Shouted one of the ODSTs.

I looked to where the ODST had pointed and I my eyes met with a bed which was right next to the door. Each time the door opened it banged against the bed stand. My locker was also on the opposite side from my bed meaning if the door was opened I had no privacy while getting dressed. The ODSTs started to unpack their personal gear, which included armour and weapons. I on the other hand who had never owned a piece of armour or weapon (knifes on Levosia don't count) found myself with nothing to do. All I owned right now was the clothes that I was wearing.

"Fuck this." I muttered as I left the room.

I decided to start my training that Lieutenant Obergon ordered me to do. I took a stroll down the corridors of the ship as I slowly made my way to the firing range. The firing range was on the lowest deck and had the most scorch and needler marks of all the decks. The lower parts of the walls had a thin poster board covering of which were riddled with bullet holes.

"Corporal Drastly?" Someone called.

"Aye." I replied turning around.

A short but bulky man stood in front of me. His hair was a very thin buzz cut. He was practically bald. His eyes were a dark green which were made darker by his sunken in eye sockets. He bore an ODST tattoo on his forearm.

"I was told to teach you how an ODST uses his gun. Follow me." He said.

I read his nametag before his turned and walked towards the weapon locker. Prøg. He had no rank markings next to his name or on his uniform.

"My name is Prøg, that's it. No rank, but I am and always will be your superior on this ship. I am the weapons master, its not a rank but a position." He stopped and turned around. He looked me up and down. "You look Army. How did you become a ODST without combat experience?" He questioned.

"HIGHCOM." I bluntly answered.

"Ah." Prøg answers before entering the weapons locker.

I waited outside awkwardly spinning on my heel for a minute. Prøg came out again with a duffle back full of weapons, then returned back inside and came out with a larger bag full of ammunition. He pulled out a holopad and tick something giving it a approving nod.

"Now Corporal, I want you to use 2 mags of ammo on each of these guns while I observe." Prøg said gesturing to the firing range.

So I dragged the weapons and ammo to the range. I set up the guns in a line and started firing.

"Stop!" Prøg yelled in my ear.

I took my finger off the trigger of a BR55 on full auto. My ears rang loudly for several seconds before calming down, although I could still hear it in the background.

"Ok then. Lets see here" Prøg muttered. "You're regular with nearly every weapon. You have high accuracy with the BR55 but in short you still suck." He said.

Prøg proceeded to head back to the weapons locker and returned with a massive SRS. The Sniper Rifle looked heavy even for him as he carried it to me. He dropped it with a 'clang' as it hit the floor.

"Now try this."

I picked up the SRS, which was lighter than I expected. I placed it on the firing range table. I inserted a clip of ammo and pulled back the pin, placing a round in the chamber. Prøg pressed a button on the command panel moving a target down the range. It was about 100 m away, it was closer than usual but the ship wasn't long enough. Well I still didn't know what type of ship I was on but I assumed it was frigate of some sorts. I looked through the scope.

"Fire when ready." Prøg said.

"Aye. Will you shut up and let me focus now." I muttered.

Prøg took a step back. I had no idea what I was doing yet my body moved with the rifle. I pulled the trigger, my whole body rocked as the gun recoiled into my shoulder. My arm shot out and quickly pulled back the bolt. I pulled the trigger again.

"Alright that's fine" Prøg said.

I lifted up as my target came closer for examination. I saw 1 bullet hole through the head of the target.

"Fuck, I missed." I said.

"No you didn't" Prøg corrected. "You fired straight through the same hole."

I didn't believe it at first but Prøg had recorded it in slow motion. I saw the bullet pass through the hole not even touching the paper target.

"You know I didn't believe that you were related to her at first, but now after that I think you are." Prøg smiled.

"Who is this person that I am supposed to be related to?" I asked.

"Never mind. I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"Ah, HIGHCOM secret?"

"ONI."

I nodded removing the magazine from the SRS. I noticed the model etched on the side: _'SRS-98 Anti-Material Sniper Rifle'. _It was etching from a knife, a personal touch of sorts.

"Whose rifle was this?" I asked.

"Hers. Now it's yours. The gun runs with the blood."

I nodded and picked up the SRS and a box full of its 14.5 x 144mm APFSDS (Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot) rounds. Prøg was smiling to himself as I left.

I returned to my room that was a complete mess with clothes and armour spread out along the floor. I ignored the stench and placed my new rifle and rounds in my locker.

I stretched out on my bed enjoying the peace and quiet of the empty room. I was dozing off when I heard moaning coming from the bathroom. I got up and walked towards the bathroom door. The moaning got louder. I pulled the bathroom door out revealing Arthur one of my new ODST brothers with a Naval Officer. I didn't close the door as I had reached into my pocket for my phone. I took a few snaps of the dumbstruck couple that were in the shower before slamming the door closed. I burst out laughing and collapsed to the floor. The bathroom door opened again and out came a very angry Arthur. He picked me up and pushed me against the wall.

"Goddamn Matt, I wasn't finished and now she doesn't want to continue."

"Arthur, I am truly sorry but…" I burst out laughing again.

Arthur smashed me in the face, which hurt less than it looked. He turned away and returned to the bathroom where I heard him and Naval Officer arguing. Blood ran from my nose as I stood up. I wiped it away before entering the bathroom again.

"Sorry, I'll leave you two. Just need to grab a tissue for my nose." I said before quickly getting another glance of the Naval Officer.

I left my room with a tissue in my nose and dry blood on my lip. I couldn't wash it off for obvious reasons. I sat in one of the empty corridors and waited for something to happen. I had started to snooze off before I felt the ship jolt and shudder before maintaining an ever-present shaking feeling. I had the sudden need to know what type of ship I was on. I stood up and walked around trying to find a mechanic or solider. I heard a few mechanics talking while they were fixing some part of the ship; I tried not to bother them.

"Hey, come on lets finish this repair and get to the gym. That new ODST Tyler is fighting XO." I overheard.

The two mechanics continued to talk while I made my way to the gym. I could hear cheering as I drew closer to it. I walked through the open doors to find most of the crew and a lot of soldiers crowding around the boxing ring. Of course the whole crew and marine detachment couldn't fit in the gym so others were lining the hallways with holopads in their hands watching the fight.

"Alright are all bets in!" Shouted a voice.

I shoved my way in. I may not have the body of an ODST yet but being one commanded a certain amount of respect. Younger marines moved out of the way when I passed while the older and more experienced marines grunted and moved ever so slightly making sure to bump shoulders as I passed. I made it to the ring to see the Captain standing on a ladder collecting bets from the men. The bets came in form of pieces of paper with the name of the solider and the amount he was betting. The Captain then put them into a box, which the ship's AI were standing next to.

"Quiet down!" Boomed the Captain.

The chatting went quiet but didn't stop; this was the big match before cryo. The AI was wearing a uniform that resembled a horseracing bookie. In one of the corners was my new team leader, Ferdinand. He was from Earth, Germany. He had that look of a perfect German, or as the 20th Century German dictator Adolf Hitler had called them, Arians.

The other side was occupied by the XO of the naval engineers that were stationed on the ship. He was an imposing 6ft 7 and had the body of a bodybuilder from all the years of working on the ships. His black hair was dripping with sweat and onto the floor of the boxing ring.

"Attention! Here is the fight we have been waiting for. In the first corner, we have the ship's fighting champion, Petty Officer Mary!" Boomed the Captain again.

The crowd on the side of the Petty Officer roared. They were mostly naval engineers there were also a few Marine Officers who had bet on him.

"In the second corner we have Petty Officer Mary's new challenger! We have Staff Sergeant Mans!"

This time, the ODSTs and most of the Marine contingent that was in the room roared in support, even outside the marines that were watching the match on their holopads roared.

"Let the match begin!"

The Captain moved up another step on the ladder and slammed a 50mm round into the roof creating a dull thump of metal on metal. This signaled the match to start.

"Come on Mary!"

The screen in the gym which as mainly use for posting news while men worked out had been taken over by the AI, now it showed the bets placed on the two men and how much people would win for their bets. Despite the roar of support from the Marines not many of them had bet on Ferdinand.

The crowd cheered as punches were thrown and dodged. This was bare hand and foot fighting. No rules except crotch and eye shots. Mary threw a wild punch that Ferdinand quickly ducked under before landing two punches in Mary's stomach. The massive man was forced back before regaining his balance. Mary was now pissed and came charging at Ferdinand. Side stepping Arthur threw a punch, which connected to Mary's jaw. The beast fell down and hit the floor hard.

The marines cheered and laughed at the now downed Mary. The naval engineers stood there shocked and some even started to leave. There were pushes and shoves as they left.

Ferdinand had returned to the side of the ring and was talking to a couple marine girls. Ferdinand slicked back his sweaty hair acting attractive; this distracted him from the fact that Mary was slowly crawling towards his feet. The girls giggled as Ferdinand made a joke before being pulled down by Mary. Ferdinand kicked back at Mary who was still on the floor. Feeling cocky and wanting to impress the marine girls Ferdinand decided to use strength against Mary.

"Come on Ferdie! Finish him!" Shouted one of the girls.

Ferdinand broke free of the hold on his foot to the delight of the crowd and sat on Mary's chest pinning his arms down with his knees. Ferdinand started to throw punches at Mary's face. The crowd cheered after every punch. Somehow using sweat and strength Mary got one of his arms free. Mary connected his massive fist with Ferdinand's face sending him to the floor. Mary stood up and only got a cheer from the remaining naval engineers. The marine officers had long since joined the cheer for Ferdinand. Ferdinand lay on the floor with his nose pouring blood. Managing to stand up, the obviously concuss Ferdinand stumbled a bit before raising his hands again. Mary turned and struck down Ferdinand again. The cheers of the engineers got louder. Ferdinand managed to stand again using the rope for support. He now had a split lip and a broken nose.

"Come on you piece of shit." Ferdinand said.

Mary threw another punch, which was surprisingly dodged by Ferdinand. Ferdinand then lost his advantage after losing his balance and stumbling backwards. Mary angered by the dodge came up and smashed Ferdinand in the face again. He fell to the floor unconscious.

I moved through the crowd to reach the other ODSTs who were picking up Ferdinand's limp body.

"Dirty fight!" Shouted a Marine.

An engineer punched the same marine. As I left the whole gym was fighting. Well the Captain sat on the top of the ladder and counted the money he had made.

"What the fuck type of ship is this." I asked one of other ODSTs. His name I had forgotten the minute he had told me.

"This is the UNSC _Hummingbird_. There is nothing different about this ship, we don't get special clearance for anything and we aren't well known throughout the fleet. We would be a normal ship if it wasn't for Captain Howard."

"How so?"

"Captain Howard is a brilliant strategist and Captain. He knows how to make troops on the ground the most effective. He tells no one his secret but this is it. Fighting, drinking, sex. Everything a man and woman, in this case, would want."

"Haven't command seen what happens on this ship?"

"Yep plenty of times. They removed him from command twice, when that happened the ship came to a standstill. The crew refused to work, the marines refused to fight. Even the AI blocked out every command, they tried replacing the AI but he fought back."

"He?"

"Yes, the AI, Upsir, chose his name after it sounded royal. You will end up loving him."

I nodded as we reached the room. We dumped Ferdinand on his bed before laughing about the fight. I checked the bathroom again to make sure that Arthur wasn't fucking his naval chick again. I laughed to myself at the memory of walking in on them. Ben the ODST who had told me about the ship went to steal a carton of beer from the kitchen while we sat and rested.

"So Drastly, how did you end up an ODST? We all know you started Army and they rarely let Army types into the ODST course." Asked Vladimir.

Vladimir got a lot of shit for his name. He was Russian through and through, he spoke like a Russian, he shit talked like a Russian, he managed to walk like a Russian, but best of all he drank vodka like a Russian. He didn't talk about his past much. His parents moved to Harvest just before he was born. His father was abusive to him and only him. He was never let out of the house until he tried to run away when he was 15. He said that when he turned 18 he fought and beat his father before leaving. That's all that he would tell us, but we knew that there was more to the story.

"ONI and HIGHCOM say I am related to someone very important, so important that the person effects the war effort. I don't really care, all I know is that that person is a amazing marksmen." I replied

I stood from my bed to get my rifle from my locker. I pulled it out and showed Vladimir. He himself was the main marksman of the squad. Vladimir's eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped slightly.

"Is that a SRS 98?" He asked.

I nodded and showed him the carving. He took the gun and examined it. He pulled back the bolt and let it go. He looked like he was in heaven.

"This gun is rare. The military wanted a sniper rifle that could penetrate a scorpion, as the threat of the insurgency grew they were suspicious of scorpions being captured. The SRS 97 was introduced and that failed a shitload. Then the 98 came out, this baby. Bolt action, bipod, 20x scope, and so much customization. Only 200,000 were produced, they were deemed to be to powerful. The 99 is a remodel made semi-automatic per the military's request." Vladimir said

"Wow. You learn something new everyday."

"What rounds are you using for this baby?" He asked.

I stood up and walked back to my locker. I grabbed a magazine of my 14.5 x 114mm ammo and pried a bullet out of it. I walked back and handed it to Vladimir.

"14.5 x 114mm. That's what I was given for it." I said.

"No no, you are going to need larger rounds than that. Otherwise your aim is going to be off. You need 16.5 x 124mm rounds."

"How the hell will I find them? I know that they aren't standard issue."

"Prøg can make you some, or he can teach you how to make them. It's not hard; this ship has a tiny bullet forge. We can melt down some casings and make larger 16.5's."

I nodded and took my gun back. Vladimir put on a face of a small child having his favorite toy taken away. I laughed. I knew at this time Vladimir was going to be the ODST I was closest to.

_You guys ready for some action because it's coming soon!_

_SpartanHoplite_


	4. Old Roots

The ship's alarm wailed as we dropped out of slipstream and into the orbit of Harvest. The campaign had been going on for 4 years now and with nearly of half of the planet glassed we had nearly pushed them back.

The massive agricultural world had large open fields and too many lakes to count. I could see the detonation points where nukes had been fired and in the distance the part of the planet that had been glassed.

"All pilots to hangar bays, Marines prepare for drop. ODST's you have 10 minutes before we reach drop area. Prepare, good luck men, I want a low casualty percentage for our first campaign." Said the Captain over the speaker system.

I rushed to my room where Arthur was saying goodbye to his new naval girlfriend, before she rushed of to wherever her station was. Arthur nodded to me as he jogged past me toward our pods. I burst inside my room; the door rebounded of my bed and hit me in the shoulder. I shrugged it off as I opened my locker. I already had my armour on, as I knew that I would need it wherever we were going. I grabbed my SRS 98; I had put on a strap on it so I could sling it over my back while traveling. I had 2 chest pouches and 4 waist pouches that were larger enough to hold my new 16.5 x 124mm magazines. I slotted one magazine into the gun and pulled back the bolt putting a round in the chamber. I grabbed my second hand M60 pistol and placed it in its holster.

"Drastly! Hurry up!" Ferdinand yelled as he left the room with full equipment.

As he left that made me the only person in the room putting me under a bit more pressure. I quickly grabbed 2 frags from my limited pile and 1 stun grenade. My pile of weapons was looking small compared to the rest of my team, but they would grow. I snatched at my M60 mags picking up 6 but dropping one on my way out of the door. I ran down the corridor as fast as I could. I came to a T-intersection in the corridors; I ran down and smashed into another person going the other way.

"For fuck sake! Watch where you are going Marine!" I yelled as I stood up.

On the floor was a marine girl. I could care less until she stood up revealing her Lieutenant patch on her chest (Her chest was pretty large). She looked at me with dagger eyes. I noticed her crystal green eyes that were partly covered by her blonde hair. She looked 22 and she was a solid 9.

"Hey you know, if we make it through this, I would like to buy you a drink when we get back Lieutenant." I said to her in an attempt for her to have sex with me.

The lieutenant smashed me in the face busting my nose. I moaned as I cradled my broken nose.

"I'll take that as a yes! I'll see you when we get back ma'am!" I said before picking up my helmet and running off.

I put on my helmet as soon as I entered the SOEIV drop room.

"Goddamn Drastly, hurry the fuck up and get in your pod!" Screamed Ferdinand through the coms.

"Hey Drastly. Where did you get he broken nose mate." Asked Ben in his English accent.

I decided after Ferd's screaming to turn down my com volume in my helmet. I stepped into my pod, as the door closed the standard light turned off and was replaced by a red light over my head.

"Dropping in 5…4…3…2…1, drop."

My pod released from the ship and I started freefalling towards the planet. I felt weightless but I held my legs to the floor so my shins didn't break when we entered gravity. I felt gravity return to normal, and my pod started to shake and heat up. My helmet com system entered range of the marines and soldiers on the planet.

"Ferdinand pick a location quick, you got 5 seconds before we can't adjust the pods." Reminded Arthur.

"Ok! Patch your coms to channel 34. We got a marine detachment about to get stomped on! They don't know we are coming so lets give a good surprise!" Cheered Ferdinand.

"Aim for the Covvies!" I yelled over the radio.

I yelled it because it sounded like something to say, but it sounded quite stupid. We cleared the atmosphere and our small chutes shot up. 20 seconds later the chutes detached and we dropped further. I passed cloud level and I could see the ground approaching swiftly.

"This is Lieutenant Johns! We have lost our defensive position send no help. We are lost. We will retreat and mark position as lost!" Yelled a voice over the coms, I could hear gunshots and plasma rounds firing.

"If anyone is hearing this. Tell my kids I love them, send my body if you can get it." The same voice said no sounding depressed.

I felt as the braking rockets fired slowing my landing ever so slightly.

"Lieutenant Johns?" Now Ferdinand was on the coms channel.

"You can tell your family yourself."

I felt my pod slam into the ground. I pushed one of the buttons in my pod sending the door flying. I grabbed my rifle that was sitting nice and snug in its compartment. I took a step out of my pod and aimed down the road. I knew I probably wouldn't find a target but it looked professional and badass for ODSTs. I felt heat on my shoulder, turning to see what had happened I saw a scorch mark and then part of pod had a dent burnt into it.

"Drastly don't dwell on that shit! So fucking fire!" Screamed Vladimir.

Vlad was using a MA5 assault rifle for his CQB weapon. I realized I had nothing but my rifle and M6C pistol. Bullets were flying over my head as the other ODSTs fell back towards the make shift defensive positions of the Marines. A felt a bullet strike my shoulder pad, I realized I would be a friendly fire statistic soon if I didn't move.

"Drastly! Get the fuck down or move to our fucking position!" Yelled Arthur as he fired another burst.

I fell to the floor avoiding getting hit by plasma and bullets. I panicked, what was I doing here! Why did I join the military! I wanted to become a hero, killed Covenant and saving lives. But here I was on the floor panicking.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Get me out of here!" I screamed.

I heard the movement of rubble. Thank god they came for me. I looked towards the positions and all the ODSTs and Marines were still in cover. I knew that a Covenant was behind me. I started to weep I was going to die and have the memory of a coward. Also I hadn't had sex in nearly 8 months I didn't want to die without having sex one last time. I turned to see my death bringer, there stood an elite. The elite was a minor by the blue armour it was wearing and an energy sword was glowing in his hand. It stood on top of the pile of rubble that our pods had landed in.

"Fuck it!" I screamed.

I pulled out my pistol and stood up charging at the elite. The elite saw me coming and raised his energy sword. He swung down at me. I tried to spin around but the very front edge of my helmet got caught. I saw the energy sword miss my visor by millimeters blinding me for a few seconds before my visor adjusted to the brightness of the weapon. I managed to see it cut deep into my helmet's chin piece before I finished my spin. I now faced the side of the elite a perfect shot. I raised my pistol and fired. The round hit the shield and dissipated I fired twice more before the elite backhanded the pistol out of my hands.

"Drastly you stupid fucking idiot! Stop fighting a fucking elite and get to cover!" I heard on of my teammates call.

Now the adrenaline was pumping through my veins. I knew that if I tried to run I would die, and if I tried to fight I would die. I choose to fight and die. The elite brought his hand up to backhand me again. I ducked under this attack and rugby tackled his body. I brought the massive creature to the ground. The elite's shield wavered as I head-butted it in the face. I raised my fist and brought it down hard on the elite's head. I felt as several knuckles and 2 maybe 3 fingers broke inside my hand. I howled with pain and rolled off the elite clutching my hand.

"Tiny human, I respect your courage, but now you die, filth." The elite said to me as it stood up and turned on the energy sword once again. My team didn't seem to care for me as they seemed to aim everywhere but where the elite was standing. My pistol was within crawling distance but the elite was closing in on me.

"Hey Ferdie, tell any relatives that come to my funeral that I'm sorry." I said over the radio.

I rolled towards my M6C; grabbing it I rolled over so that I was facing the elite. I pulled the trigger until I heard the gun click. The elite staggered a bit before dropping to the floor. I dropped the gun to my side and let my head fall back. I breathed out with relief and chuckled a bit. My luck was over the top.

"Holy fucking shit!" I yelled.

Bullets and plasma were flying over my prone body but I couldn't help but laughing. I started to laugh hysterically until my stomach hurt. I calmed down slightly and chuckled a bit before my mind went back to reality. I was in the middle of a fucking firefight, literally. I felt another sudden rush of adrenalin pump through me. Fuck I must nearly be out of adrenalin by now I thought to myself.

"Ferdinand, I'm feeling heroic. Cover me." I said through the coms.

"Matt! I don't know how you are alive but get your ass back here!" Came the reply.

"That's a negative boss."

Picking up my M6C from my side I lifted myself up and half walked half crawled my way to behind a drop pod. I placed another clip in the gun and prepared to charge out. I walked out of cover and walked towards the covvie positions. I thought I was walking like they did in the movies, you know with the slow-mo scene with guns blazing. Except this wasn't slow-mo and it wasn't a movie. I felt heat all over as plasma round after plasma round passed my body; I started to move faster before tripping. Yes I know I tripped, an ODST tripping in combat pathetic. I placed out my hands to stop my fall, I landed and pain shot through my hand once again.

"Fucking fuck!"

I attempted to stand again, this time I felt something tare through my lower shoulder. It wasn't plasma that was a good sign, I think. I checked my shoulder to find a bullet wound.

"Friendly fire! Friendly fire!" I yelled.

There was no reply. Even though a few moments ago I felt like I was king and I could take on the whole covenant army alone. Now I felt alone, my 'allies' were firing in my direction obviously not caring if I die or not. I sat back down again. I felt sick; I quickly took off my helmet before throwing up everywhere.

"Fuck it. I'm done for good now."

I lay down on the torn up road and holstered my gun. I left my helmet off and closed my eyes. I felt the heat on my face as plasma nearly scorched it and I heard the zipping of bullets going over my body.

"Drastly! You still alive!" Yelled Arthur.

I put helmet back on so I could communicate.

"Just about, after hand to hand combat with a elite and getting shot by your own team you kinda wanna laydown." I replied.

"Fall back to our position, we'll provide cover fire."

"Promise not to shoot me?"

"Not the time Drastly!"

"Promise!"

"For fuck sake I promise not to shoot you, now get you ass back here!"

I stood and started to run back over the mound of rubble where the elite I fought was still lying dead. I was 10 metres from my team when I felt needler rounds hit me in the back. I screamed as I fell to the floor from the impact and felt pain as several had just pierced my armour digging into my skin. I rolled around on the ground breaking the needles. By the amount of cracks I heard there must have been 4 with 2 lodged into my back. The now broken shards lost their colour effectively disabling the explosion they caused. I felt my arms being lifted and I was dragged away. The shards were still lodged in my back as I began to slip in and out of consciousness. As I was dragged behind cover I heard shouting as a Hornet passed overhead and provided support. Then I gave up.

I woke to a bright light above my head. It was unnatural light so I knew I was indoors. I raised my head from its pillow and opened my eyes fully. I was in a field hospital. I lifted my body from the bed causing much pain to my lower back where the 2 needler rounds had pierced into my back. I felt a bandage that was wrapped under my shirt. My hand was also in a bandage from punching the elite.

"Corporal!" Someone yelled.

I turned to see Arthur and Ferdinand laughing. They were completely different from what they had been in the field.

"Hey guys. What happened after I was dragged away?" I asked them.

"Dragged away, no one dragged you away." Replied Arthur.

"You passed out after you killed the elite. Which is hilarious to watch. You were mumbling about getting shot in the shoulder when we picked you up." Finished Ferdinand.

I scratched my head. Then a looked to my shoulder, the shirt covered it but as I pulled it down I saw that there was no bullet hole. I did the same with the other shoulder with the same result. Everything after shooting the elite was made up. My brain had fucked me up.

"So was there a hornet for support, well that's what I remember?" I mentioned.

"Nope, we fought for about another 30 minutes after we landed before the covenant fell back. Actually it happened around 5 to 10 minutes after you killed that elite ultra. It was quite impressive after your 20 minutes of wailing."

"What? 20 minutes? It felt like 2 and then 2 minutes to kill the elite who I thought was a minor. Then after that I thought that the battle continued for 5 minutes." I said.

"Actually then, how did I get the needler round in my back." I added.

Arthur and Ferdinand looked at each other and shrugged.

"We don't know actually, but you had them half broken in your back when we picked you up."

I nodded and Arthur and Ferdinand turned to the exit. Arthur turned his head.

"Your armour is next to your bed if you hadn't realized already." He said to me.

I nodded once again. My brain could not take in the information it as given. For a whole 10 minutes my brain only came up with 5 minutes of memories. I dismissed these thoughts; I didn't care anymore now all I wanted to do was go get a drink.

"So I… Fired the th… thing and it hit… elite in the thing… and the elite… died." I slurred.

I on the boarder of the UNSC camp, some marines had set up a bar here using booze that they had found while patrolling a town. I was way passed drunk I was smashed. When I realized no one was listening to my story I stood up and prepared to leave. I swayed a bit at first but got my balance back. I started to walk back stumbling from time to time. I had my helmet with me. I don't remember why but I had my helmet with me even though I had no armour on. I stopped and sat down to rest even though I had barely walked 50 metres. I examined my helmet it looked badass. The cut from the energy sword had left a scar on my helmet. It had slightly scratched my visor but you couldn't see it while wearing it. I smiled; well it was a drunken smile, at my first war scar. I knew I had more scars on my back from the needles but this was more obvious and badass.

"Fuck I better get to sleep." I muttered.

I stood up again and fell back down from my drunkenness. I tried again with more success. I saw the groups of tents were up ahead.

I stumbled into a tent hoping it was empty. I was wrong. There on one of the beds was the Lieutenant that I bumped into on the _Hummingbird._ She was on her bed naked and watching some very inappropriate content on her holopad. Me being drunk saw this as very funny. I burst out laughing and lost my balance and went tumbling onto the floor. Then she let out a very quiet squeak. I was expecting a massive high-pitched scream but no.

"I'm sorry for intruding Lieutenant." I said struggling not to laugh.

I got up; even though I was drunk I knew I was fucked if I stayed any longer than I had to. I walked towards the tent entrance. I felt I hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see the Lieutenant still naked. Her body was in perfect shape and I could tell she did squats. She slapped me and then smashed me in the face in quick succession causing me to fall to the floor.

"Maybe if we both get back to the ship you can touch this." She teased.

The Lieutenant shoved me out of her tent. I still didn't even know her name. I didn't care now. I needed sleep.

I needed sleep. I had been in the field with Vladimir for 2 weeks straight. We had been dropped some food and water 3 days ago and we were being told that we would be in the field for another 2 weeks if everything goes to plan. We had taken out dozens upon dozens of covvie patrols and small raiding parties. I had begun the habit of marking my number kills on my helmet, it was cliché but it made me seem badass when we met with other UNSC troops. Vladimir laughs at me when I mark down the number of kills claiming its waste of time. I find it calming to see the number of strokes I have on my helmet.

Vladimir has been quiet ever since we arrived on Harvest. His parents used to live here and might of died here as well. He had the habit of shooting dead Covenant, which I laughed at as much as he laughed at me for my habit.

We were now watching a bridge on one of the large rivers. Intel from the Naval fleet up above showed massive movement in this area from Covenant ground forces. We were the closest asset at the time so we were here to keep watch while a more sizable UNSC force moved in from further away. We had been here for 4 days now. The hill that we were situated on was protected in the front by mines and the sides were mined as well. We were hidden behind tall grass if we were lying down that made our lives slightly easier. Vlad walked around from behind a bush where he had been for about 10 minutes.

"You break your wrist when you were back there or something?" I asked.

"Fuck off." Vlad muttered back.

I chuckled a bit. Vlad picked up his binoculars from the ground and searched the horizon.

"Anything?"

He shook his head and put the binoculars back down. He used his bag as a backrest as I was doing. He picked up the cards, which were sprawled out across the ground and started to shuffle them.

"Hey do you know that marine lieutenant? You know the 22 year old one I think and she is so fucking hot like nearly a 10?" I asked.

"You mean Lieutenant Hughes? The one that looks like she does squats everyday?" Vlad smiled.

I nodded and smiled back. We chuckled a bit at the thought.

"Well you know the day I woke in hospital. Well after I went drinking, I tried to get back to my tent but stumbled into hers and kinda interrupted her while she was." I made the gesture of what she was doing. (You can figure it out)

Vlad burst out laughing and rolled onto his side. I smiled at the memory of it and laughed too.

"Really?"

"Yep, she then came up to me slapped and smashed my face before saying that we could have sex if we both made it back to the ship alive."

"Well with a body like that you better hope she survives."

We both laughed a bit more before settling down.

"Cards?" Vlad asked.

"Sure. What we playing?"

"Just simple Go Fish."

I chuckled while Vlad dealt the cards. ODST's in full body armour playing a game of Go Fish. That would be a sight to see.

We sat for another 2 hours playing Go Fish and occasionally checked for the Covvies. We started to sing some songs that we remembered from our teen days. Vlad started to sing some Russian song while holding his hand to his heart.

"Lion Den. I repeat come in Lion Den." Said a static voice over the radio.

We had both chosen Lion Den as our call sign because it was one of those cliché sounding call signs.

"Da, this is Mother Russian Lion Den." Vlad replied.

"Cut the bullshit Lion Den. You have almost a full Covenant Battalion coming your way."

I jumped up from my resting place grabbing the binoculars and looked out past the river and bridge. I saw nothing, it might have been I joke but he seemed serious.

"Tell them I see nothing." I told Vlad.

"We see nothing with our binoculars."

"Well check again damn it. They are west of the bridge."

I moved my view more to the west and caught a purple glint of light from a ghost. The slowly the rest of the force was coming into view. My eyes opened wide and my mouth dropped as I saw a small battalion of 300 men and vehicles march towards the bridge.

"Gun! Now!" I shouted before dropping the binoculars.

I grabbed my SRS-98 Rifle and slid into a position in the long grass.

"Tell command to see fucking reinforcements now!" I screamed.

There was no need to scream, as there was no sound right now apart from the sound of the approaching Covenant onslaught but I felt it was needed in this situation.

I turned back to my rifle and looked through the scope. The electronic scope marked targets as I passed over their bodies. The first wave of the battalion was around 30 grunts, 20 jackals, 7 elite minors, 2 elite majors, but there was the prize an elite ultra.

"Vlad get down on your rifle we got an ultra." I told him.

Vlad dropped the radio and scrambled for his gun before crawling into the long grass next to me.

"Where?"

"Front of the first wave."

"Alright. I got that last ultra in the village now this one is yours." Vlad mumbled.

This meant that Vlad would shoot first to burst its shields before I took the take down shot.

I knew Vlad liked to take his time with the first shot of a battle. I lay there for a minute before I heard Vlad take a large breath and exhale. He pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the elite right it the head knocking it backwards and bursting its shields. I took the second shot and saw it pass straight through the squid-face's open mouth.

"Nice kill. Another one to add to helmet ey Drastly."

"You know it." I replied while giving my helmet a few taps.

We now started firing at will. Within 10 seconds we had eliminated every single one of the elites in the first wave. We switched targets to the jackals that were chaotically and franticly spinning around with their shield not knowing where we were firing. They fell one by one; the grunts now panicked and ran back to the second wave, an elite major shoot two grunt ultras for leading the wave into a retreat. The other grunts realized the consequences and fell back in line with the second wave. I waited a bit for the second wave to move up further to take clean shots.

"Ready for round two?" I mumbled.

"Da."

Vlad and I had made the habit of mumbling to each other while sniping even in extreme conditions where we are under heavy fire we still mumble to each other.

Both Vlad and I seemed to be in sync as we fired round after round. An elite was on zipping towards the bridge on a ghost trying to scout us. Vlad put a bullet into the elite's head and the ghost went out of control crashing into the river.

"Nice."

I started to pick off what seemed easiest with jackals and grunt majors being most of the targets. We must have picked off 100 grunts, jackals and elites by the time we lifted our head from out scopes. I cracked my knuckles and rolled onto my back to rest for a few seconds. I looked at the sky, the sun was going down and in about 3 hours it would be dark putting the covvies at a slight advantage due to the ability to try and cross the bridge with cloaks on. I was about to turn over when I saw a purple streak fly arch through the sky.

"Wraiths!" I yelled.

I quickly rolled back over and took a look through my scope to see 3 wraiths lined up. Vlad must have seen them to while he was resting because we both grabbed our guns and ran to grab our bags.

"Let's go! Don't forget the radio to contact command!" Vlad yelled as he grabbed his bag and took off sprinting.

I grabbed the radio and my back before sprinting off after him. For now the wraith's accuracy was terrible because they hadn't zoned in on us yet. I slowed down to a fast jog.

"There, that house will do." Vlad pointed out a house just a few hundred metres away.

We continued to jog towards the house and arrived there 2 minutes later. I sat down on the front porch and laughed. I had something with near death experiences that make me laugh, Vlad always comments about making sure I get therapy when we get back to the _Hummingbird_.

Vlad pulled his MA5 from the side of his bag. I stood up and drew out my M6C as we walked into the house. We walked into the kitchen, dust had gathered on nearly every surface. We checked under the sink because for some reason grunts like to sleep underneath them. We moved into the living room where there was even more dust on the furniture.

"Hey at least this T.V is working." As I nodded to the edge of the room where the T.V had a red light on.

Vlad nodded. He seemed tense as soon as we entered the kitchen and now even more tense when we entered the living room. He slowly took to the steps leading to the second floor. I stayed downstairs and kept watch until he returned. I took a seat on the couch before deciding to lie down. I accidently got mud onto the armrest, which was on my boot from running from the Wraith fire. Vlad to his time, I didn't mind I knew he wasn't dead because his pulse was still beating steadily which I could see on my HUD, although his heart was pumping a bit faster than usual.

"Oi, Vlad! You ok up there?" I shouted.

"Yea, I'm fine." He replied.

I knew something was wrong after that reply. He usually replied with 'Da' or 'Aye' with a Russian accent, but now his voice had lost all of it's accent and he replied in a normal manner.

I swung my feet of the couch and stood up. I still had my pistol in my hand and I readied it as I walked closer to the stairs. I reached the stairs when I felt something jab me in the neck, it wasn't like a needle jab but it was a solid object jab. I ducked as I swung around, I saw a body, and I didn't know if it was human or not I just tackled it. We hit the ground with a thud I got up first and aimed my pistol at the body. Another body came around the corner and screamed.

"Putin!"

In the door way from the kitchen to the living room was a woman who had her hand over her mouth. I now realized the body on the floor was human, it was an old man and next to him was an antique double-barreled shotgun from the 22nd century.

"Sorry Sir. Ma'am." I said as I holstered my M6C.

I held out my arm to help the man up but he batted it away and grabbed his shotgun and aimed it at my head. He had the look of hatred in his eyes. I raised my hands to show I meant no harm.

"Are you UNSC?" He grunted.

"Aye, I'm an ODST stationed on the UNSC _Hummingbird_."

"Does it look like a give two fucking shits where you are stationed boy."

He called me boy. I had been called boy all my life until I had been trained as an ODST and it had left emotional scars. As soon as I heard that name a flare sparked in my brain.

"Call me boy!" I shouted.

I grabbed the barrel of the shotgun and bent it up-wards with the help of my armour. I then pulled the man up using the shotgun. I grabbed him by the throat and held him in the air. With my free hand I took off my helmet.

"Do I look like a bloody boy to you?"

"I am fighting so you don't die so you and your wife don't die. Just a few hundred metres away is a bridge where the Covenant are crossing right now. If not for us they would have been all over you now, raping your wife."

The man spat in my face. I now increased my choke and slammed him against the wall.

"Stop it." The woman squealed.

I pulled out my pistol and aimed it at the man's head.

"This is how one of those elites killed a Marine I once knew. He placed the Marine's weapon to his chin and said in his alien tongue. 'Who's the little boy now bitch.'"

"No! Stop it!" The woman now sounded Russian.

"I will kill you in the next life." The man grunted I noticed his Russian accent as well.

"Drastly! Drop my fucking father now!" Vlad yelled from the top of the stairs aiming his rifle at me.

_Hey guys, I hoped you enjoyed the first action chapter and more are coming!_

_With this chapter done it would be great to grab some feedback from you guys. Something about my writing that you don't like? Tell me about it so I can change so it is enjoyable to everyone._

_Cheers_

_SpartanHoplite_


	5. Relations Help

I had found a packet of cigarettes on the balcony of Vlad's old house. I had given up ever since I had left Levosia but I felt I needed one right now. I took another long drag before exhaling out of my nose. I was enjoying the view, must have been I awkward sight a ODST in full battle armour leaning over a balcony looking out towards the horizon. I could see a orange hue on the horizon, the edge of the glassing. It had only been 2 weeks since the UNSC Navy knocked out a class CRS-Cruiser causing the glassing to stop.

I looked out towards the small hills we had just run from. The Covenant hadn't set off any mines or motion detectors meaning that they were still pitched on the other side of the bridge. I mean it kinda made sense when I think about it I had fired at least 100 rounds and my bag was getting quite empty of cartridges. I had found it was easier to fill the bottom of my hard-case bag just with bullets and then place extra cartridges on top, this made it easier for me to carry my bullets at a time but I had to manually place them in the cartridges. I had started off with about 20 cartridges at the start of this mission but now I was down to 7, I had left the others on the ground when I sprinted away from Wraith fire.

I detached my helmet from my waist clip and inspected it. I counted 129 kills, well those were elite kills I never counted jackals or grunts. Above those markings were 3 marks, elite ultra kills, and the first mark was from the elite that I fought with on my first drop, the second was from a night op, which Vlad and I ran a week ago, number three is my proudest kill. A day after the night op Vlad and I stumbled on an Army position that was situated in a village that was under attack from 2 whole battalions of Covenant, fuck I didn't know what was so important about the position but I never cared if I got to kill covvies. The soldiers were obviously losing when we arrived so Vlad and I jumped from village building to village building trying not to get caught. Then when we reached the end and prepared to leave we spotted an elite ultra. Vlad and I couldn't turn down the opportunity to kill an ultra. I climbed to a rooftop where the elite was walking past Army POW's. It drew its energy sword and prepared to cut the head off a solider. Vlad took a shot at the elite's head causing the shield to burst leaving it wide open to attack. I jumped down from the roof with my knife drawn placing it in-between the ultra's helmet and body armour. I laughed at the though of the firefight.

I grabbed my knife from its place above my ass and carved another line to mark the ultra I had killed not long ago. I then started to carve out 25 marks to represent the other elites that I had killed today. I smiled as my marks had nearly covered half of one side of my helmet. I was hoping by the end of my second campaign to have this side of my helmet full.

Vlad and his father had been inside the living room for half an hour now. I had been given the job of calming his mum who just happened to hate me for nearly killing her husband. She had stormed off into the bedroom before coming out and watching Vlad from the stairs. I had given up and come out here for a break.

I backed away from the edge and sat against the wall and took the radio from my chest. The plastic casing was charred black from plasma heat that it received 3 weeks ago; I still needed to change it. Now I think it had given up on me. All I heard over the channel to command was static must have broken something on the inside. I placed the radio down to my side and took another drag off the cigarette. I closed my eyes against better judgment to take a nap.

My eyes shot open and I drew my side arm when I was woken by the sound of a loud beeping sound. I was still on the balcony alone. I checked my breast pocket to find the motion sensors had gone off. I relaxed it was only the Covenant. I pushed my self up off the ground and picked up the radio placing it on my waist.

"Vlad!" I shouted stretching.

I walked off the balcony back into the second floor hallway. I passed what seemed to be Vlad's old room. I quickly turned my head it to find his favorite bear other something to make fun of him when we got back to killing covvies. There was nothing the room was bland, the walls looked like no-one had touched it since it was painted no sign that anyone had lived here apart from a few books and a toy which were placed neatly on the shelf. Had Vlad lived like this his whole childhood in a dark room with nothing inside of it.

"Drastly! What is it?" I heard Vlad call back.

I turned out of the room and back into the hallway. I walked down the stairs thumping with each step with my armour placing weight on the creaking steps. I passed Vlad's mother who gave me a vicious look. I entered the living room to find Vlad staring at his father who was doing the same. Things must have been worse between these two then I had been told. I would have thought that Vlad would have gone straight to beating his father but there was something deeper than that a hatred that had gone past anger.

"The Covvies are crossing the river." I said.

The two didn't move a muscle.

"That's fine though, just a couple thousand civilians on this side of the river but I'll you two a couple more minutes then." I added before turning into the kitchen getting out of the room as quickly as possible.

I walked towards one of the cupboards to just have a look. The kitchen also looked like it hadn't been used much a bit like the room up stairs. There were no items that you would normally find in a standard kitchen like a toaster and microwave. I opened the cupboard to find a very small saucepan. I walked over to the cutlery draw opening it I found only one set of cutlery. Either this family is big on sharing germs or something is very wrong here. I walked away from the kitchen heading back towards the living room to grab Vladimir out of his staring contest. I wanted to get out of this house.

I stepped on a tile that seemed to be hollow. I hadn't realized that the floor was tiled until now most likely because the tiles were about as wide as me. I stepped on the tile again producing that hollow sound. I stomped on it causing the tile to crack. Again I stomped now the tile broke apart and revealed a ladder leading underground. One thought came to my head Insurgents.

I moved quickly into the living room again with my sidearm drawn. Vlad now stood up realizing something was wrong so did his mother. I shoved the couch that Vlad's father was on, around to face me. I now once again pointed a gun at him.

"For fuck sake Matthew! Stop pointing guns at my father!" yelled Vladimir.

"This bastard is an Insurgent. He had that fucking tunnel in the kitchen."

Vlad stood there unnerved by this.

"That is where he kept me Matt. That is where I grew up for 15 years before trying to break out. The neighbors noticed me so I now had to stay in a room." Vlad told me.

"Then how do you explain this?" I dropped a grenade on the floor.

Vlad's mother screamed and ducked behind a chair. Vlad dove for it believing it was live. He stood up holding it in his hand the pin still on.

"There are 20 more down stairs with lots of small arms. Hell there is even a warthog down there."

Vlad punched me in the back. I now turned pointing the gun at him.

"What the fuck!"

"Even if that is true… He still… never mind. Let's go there are civilians that need saving. "

I unwillingly lowered my gun. I turned and spat at the man's feet before barging out towards the kitchen where the door out was. This was fucking shit. If the Covenant weren't around I would have placed a whole clip in that bastard's face. I kicked at the ground I have other things to worry about. Vlad now came out of the house and bumped his shoulder into mine.

"Don't ever threaten my family ever again." He muttered.

"Excuse you? That "father" of yours kept you locked up in a cage and beat you." I replied.

"He still… Did stuff for me." Vlad turned away. "I'll tell you… at another time… when we have time to talk."

Vlad slung his rifle around his shoulder and walked back towards the bridge. I stood there baffled something had happened in that house, yet I didn't know if it was good or bad. Vlad seemed to hate his father for constant beatings and for closing him off from the world. Yet deep down he felt he owed his father something.

"Hurry up Drastly, we got people to save." Vlad said not turning to face me.

I grabbed my helmet from my waist and ran my hand over the side feeling the marks before putting it on. I heard the helmet click into place as it connected to my body armour. I started towards Vlad at a slow pace I wasn't in a hurry to die.

"This is going to be a long day." I said as I placed another round in the cartridge.

"You know it, you set those mines up on our flank?" Replied Vlad.

"Aye they're there and ready to blow."

I finished putting bullets into my cartridges and placed them all neatly in a row. We were inside a barn house watching over the crawling Covenant advance. We had taken 20 minutes to reach this barn and the Covenant had barely moved past the bridge. I looked down my scope towards the advancing Covenant they were about 2 kilometers out of range and it would be another hour at this pace.

"Do you know when Command said the re-forcements coming?" Vlad muttered shinning his gun.

I grabbed the radio from my pack and chucked it to him.

"Unless you can pull an electrical degree out of your pocket then we don't know shit. Fuck for all I know the _Hummingbird_ had fucked off to another system." I replied.

Vlad nodded picking up the radio and started inspecting it. Giving a loud grunt he chucked it at me.

"That's fucked."

I put it back in my bag and lent back against the wooden barn wall. This barn was more for show then it was for farming. It was one of those old-fashioned ones. The ground was littered with hay and straw that were most likely produced in factories instead of bringing the real stuff from Earth.

"So… You alright mate?" I awkwardly asked.

"Yea, I'm fine. Just weird to see my dad." Replied Vlad while taking apart his pistol.

I nodded and rested against the wall. I felt like another nap, something about me today was making me tired. I yawned to confirm that.

"You're on watch mate, I'm taking a nap."

Vladimir grunted with discontent but accepted it.

I was kicked awake. I opened my eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them. I blinked a few times so my eyes could adjust to the light. Vlad was standing in front of me.

"How long was I out?" I mumbled while stretching.

"An hour or so. Now get up covvies are getting close."

I nodded and stood up. The barn's large open second floor window made a perfect sniping position. The window went from the floor to just before the roof allowing us to lie down while sniping.

I picked up my rifle and looked down the scope. Now closer than before, I could make out the composition of the Covenant's first wave. This first wave was larger than most that I had come across around 200 grunts, 100 jackals, 50 elites but no ultras.

"Lets get ready." Vlad mumbled.

Vlad and I had made several runs to other houses deeper inside the village to set up fall back positions when the Covenant started to use Wraiths against us.

We waited lying still for 10 minutes. We watched Ghosts come in and out of the village trying to scout us out. The driver never left the Ghost though which saved us several times.

"10 seconds." Vlad mumbled.

I slowly counted down from 10 inside my head. Both Vlad and I looked towards each other when we reached zero and nodded. Turning back tour rifles we fired in sync. The front elites fell before we came under fire, this time they knew where we were firing. I felt my armour adjust the temperature as super heated plasma flew over my head.

"Last mag then we move." I mumbled.

We fired 5 more rounds each taking down 9 more elites before grabbing our guns and remaining gear before we jumped down to the ground floor of the barn and exiting out the back door. We heard the Covenant continue fire on our old location we used this to sprint to our next location.

"Don't fire, they'll try and enter the barn and take us out. We'll blow the explosives with them inside saving us rounds." Vlad mumbled.

I took this small amount of time to fill my empty magazines with bullets from my bag. I placed them in a row next to my gun once again getting ready for another round of firing.

"Get ready."

I picked up the remote detonator from the floor and watched the barn from our new location.

The new location was a burnt down 2 story house which had a massive hole in the wall which must have been made from an explosion of some sort. We were shooting from that hole before moving again to our last fallback.

I watched as a group of grunts and jackals entered the room followed by a pair of hunters. Once I was sure they were all within range of the explosives, I pressed the button on the detonator and saw the barn go up in flames.

"Now!" I shouted before jumping down to my gun.

Vlad followed suit and we both started firing while the covvies were distracted by the lightshow that we had created. I heard the screams of the hunters as they burnt, their armour saving them from the blast.

Vlad and I fired round after round missing a couple when the elites rolled away from the shots. The covvies now realized where we had moved to and were shouting at the grunts that were in a panic to return fire. We eliminated a few more elites before a group of elite majors shot some grunts snapping them back into fight mode. We took out some of those majors before the grunts started firing; their shots missed most of the time but when in large groups can spray a lot of ground.

"Fucking hell we didn't pick this position well." Vlad mumbled.

We had a house in front of use so the Covenant could actually sneak up on us when we were sniping.

I fired again; pulling back the bolt I saw the round slide out. It was satisfying to watch the smooth ejection of the bullet; it landed on the pile of bullets, which had piled up during the 5 minutes of me lying here.

Plasma flew past my armour leaving black scorch marks. I was surprised with my luck, as Vlad had been hit twice in his shoulder he had to remove his shoulder plate so the plasma didn't burn through.

I finished my last mag and looked up, more Covenant were coming around the corner and I didn't have time to refill my cartridges. I stood up and tapped Vladimir on the shoulder, who was one his last mag. He nodded without looking up from his scope and quickly finished his rounds off.

I grabbed my cartridges and rifle before jumping down though a hole that had been burnt through the floor in the fire. I landed and sprinted out the front door, I felt plasma scorch on past, as I made it to the other side of the concrete street I felt someone hot on my calf. I looked down to see plasma burning though the armour. I tripped and fell behind a house into cover. I didn't care for my rifle or cartridges as I attempted to rip off the armour plating.

I screamed as the plasma burnt into my leg. The armour had melted onto my under-skin and solidified. I bit my lip as I went deeper into my leg. I started to taste blood, my teeth had sunken into my bottom lip leaving deep cuts. I lay in cover for half a minute before Vlad came sprinting across the road dodging plasma and needler rounds, he dived at the last second to avoid a plasma grenade.

"Mate, get the fuck up!" He screamed as plasma rounds hit the corner of the wall.

I screamed at the pain that shot through my leg as I stood up. Vlad shot off to the last house. I started a limping run after him. I reached into my pocket and took out another detonator and pressed the button. I heard an explosion behind and me and felt a piece of wood strike me in the back knocking me off balance. I stood back up pain shooting though my leg and continued to the last house.

I smashed through the door and walked towards the stairs flinching with every step.

"Matt, get your ass up here now!" Vlad yelled.

Vlad had arrived 5 minutes earlier and was already firing at the Covenant. My rifle was slung around my back and had dent in the stock where the piece of wood had hit it.

I tried my best to hurry up the steps, which caused me to collapse in pain when I reached the top. I crawled the rest of the way to where Vlad was firing, which was a small hole that we had smashed through the side of the house. The hole was so small that we struggled to aim through it but it had to do.

I lay down next to Vladimir. I didn't have time to re-fill my cartridges so tipped my bag up letting the stray bullets to roll out. I placed down my rifle and spread out its bipod. I took one bullet and put in the chamber. I looked down my scope and breathed. I fired the recoil making my leg move a slight bit, which caused me to grunt in pain.

"Fuck." Swore Vlad under his breath.

I didn't take notice to it as I placed another round in the chamber and fired missing an elite's head by centimetres. I tried again getting a bit luckier this time hitting it in the shoulder knocking the elite to the ground where I then finished him off with a third shot. I realized that Vlad wasn't shooting. I looked up and saw him staring into space.

"Matthew, I'm out of rounds." He muttered.

I knew what this meant as he looked at my leg. He looked back at me with a very grim face. I nodded accepting my fate. He would never admit it, but I saw a tear in his eye.

"It's been a very short honour Matthew." He said.

Vladimir quickly stood up and grabbed his rifle before running back down the stairs and out the back door. I turned back to the small hole in the wall where the Covenant were re-organizing frenzied grunts and jackals.

"This is it then, isn't it, Matt" I told myself.

I aimed down my sights and wondered what my life would have been if I had never left Levosia. Would I still be a drug addict, would I be dead in a gang war? I brushed those thoughts aside I will now be dying a much better death. I had around 100 bullets in my bag and I planned to use them all.

I closed my eyes and breathed, plasma was burning through the wall above me. I heard the constant thud as neeedler rounds smacked into the wall.

I felt the pain from my leg drift away and all sound become mute. I subconsciously placed a round in the chamber. I opened my eyes and fired, I didn't feel myself move it just happened. My hand reached out for another round and within a second I fired again and again. I saw as elite bodies started to litter the once paved road. Pools of purple blood formed beneath them. Plasma still flew over my head as the wall that had once been had been melted through by plasma.

My shoulder stung, it was the first feeling I had had in 30 minutes. I saw a needler round sticking out of it. I cared none; I turned back to my scope and fired at the jackal that had been responsible, the bullet passed clean through its head.

I was in a mental state of calmness; my mind was acting by itself yet I knew somehow I had some control of my actions. I continued to fire, my arm snapping out after firing each shot to grab another bullet. I saw less blue and green plasma rounds fly over my head, it steadily decreased.

My body returned to my control as the last remaining grunt fell while running down the road. I smiled, whoever the person I was related to who gave me this ability, I thanked. I looked to find I had only a mere 4 bullets left. My smile diminished as I felt the pain from my calf and now my shoulder return. It took a few seconds to take in all the pain before I screamed.

I lifted my head off the floor. I had passed out from the extreme pain. My face had molded around my gun's stock while I was out. I lifted my body causing extreme pain to my shoulder making me collapse. I now lifted myself with my right arm only. Vlad was the one who had the med-kit so I didn't have any bio-foam to seal up my wounds. I stood up on my good leg putting my hard-case bag on and slinging my SRS-98 on my shoulder.

I hopped down the stairs using my arm for support. I walked for the front door, which was still open from when I had slammed through it. Portions of the downstairs wall had been burnt away from stray plasma rounds.

I was now outside. The air was cold night was approaching. The sun was setting in the east unlike Levosia and Earth where the sun set in the west. I struggled not to step on the bodies of the fallen Covenant. I saw an elite on the ground spread eagle with a bullet through its eye. I walked over to it as something had caught my eye. I knelt next to it flinching as I felt the pain in my leg. There was a small glowing object under its armour. I took it and examined it; it was a small circular disc that had the standard covvie purple hue to it. I noticed a small button on the side, pressing it a hologram popped up. In the picture were what seemed to be 2 small elite children running around. For the first time I saw an elite have a smile on its face.

"They aren't a lot different than us." I told myself.

I placed the holo device in my chest pocket and stood up. The sun had fallen behind a hill and a chill breeze went by. My leg was too weak to push myself up again which forced me to crawl into a small alleyway between 2 houses. I sat against a wall out of the wind. My armour had lost its temperature control as soon as the plasma cut through my body suit. I took off my rifle and held it close to my chest as I curled into a ball trying to keep warm. I didn't expect to get much sleep tonight.

_Hey guys, that was one of the first proper action chapters I have ever written!_

_Tell me what you guys think!_

_SpartanHoplite_


	6. Reunited

I sat on a pile of dead Covenant. I had piled them up in hours that I had been awake. I had searched the bodies of the elites to see if any of them had other personal devices. I had enough time to pile them up in relation to their race. The grunts I did first because they were tiny little shits, the jackals were a bit harder to move but the real struggle was the elites and along with my injuries. I had pried off my calf armour with my knife and wrapped it with a bandage that I had begun the habit of carrying around; I had been forced to leave the needle in my arm because I would die of blood loss if I took it out. I know it isn't very smart to pile up dead 8ft elites when you have a needle stuck in your arm and plasma burns on your leg. I don't know why I did it, I just thought after seeing that hologram I couldn't just leave them lying around so I plied them up.

It was around midday when the reinforcements arrived. I couldn't tell what time it was because a needle had gone through my helmet when I was sniping. I had counted the kills of the elites but there were no ultras, which was surprising as out of the 38 elites that I had killed there had been none, the standard ratio was 40 to 1.

My helmet now had 167 marks, I glad I started marking them small or I would have no room left on my helmet.

The first reinforcements that came were falcon scouts that flew over. I then heard the shouting of advancing Army units. They were rarely deployed these days unless they were permanently stationed on the planet before hand. Since Harvest had so far been a very long campaign the Army had enough time to deploy multiple battalions on the ground. I could tell they were Army because of their falcons; they were older models that made a lot more noise. As they flew over I struggled to lift myself from the pile of dead grunts. I felt the shudder of multiple scorpion tanks rolling down the road from. I turned my head to see soldiers fanning out, covering perimeters, and watching corners. They still thought I was dead huh. I turned my head back to facing the sky and waited.

"I found the ODST! I repeat the ODST is on top of the heap of dead grunts!" I heard a solider shout.

I touched my leg and attempted to drag me down thinking me to do be dead. He grabbed on to my bandaged calf, I screamed at the top of my lungs. The solider jolted back and fell on his ass.

"Touch my fucking leg again grunt and I will fucking shove on of those dead elites up your fucking ass!" I yelled pointing at the pile of dead elites.

The solider turned his head, gulped as he realized I had killed all 38 of those dead bodies. A few soldiers had stopped to see what was happening and now a small crowd was moving close to me.

"Sir, do you need help getting down from there?" A soldier asked.

"No. I'll fucking do it myself." I grunted.

I pushed myself up off the mound of dead bodies with my good arm and slid down. I landed grunting as pressure was placed on my calf.

"Someone get me a god damn medic."

I soldier nodded and ran off back towards the scorpion tanks. I took this time to examine the soldiers around me. I towered over them at 6ft 8, I had grown massively since the last time I measured myself. They all seemed clean and fresh, they were new arrivals. That bode badly meaning we were losing ships in space, which meant more had been sent in. They seemed scared and in awe to see a massive ODST who was just happening to be lying on top of large amounts of dead covvies.

"Sir!" I heard a shout from behind me.

Out from the cluster of buildings came a medic and 2 other soldiers. I nodded to the third soldier behind them who was the one I sent. The soldier grew a smile on his face. Did I really command that much respect? Was I really that much of a hero already? Vladimir must have been pulling some stories when he had arrived back. I smiled at that thought.

"Sir, can you confirm where you have been hit?" Asked the medic.

"Shoulder, needler. Calf, plasma."

The medic nodded knowing not to speak to me more than what was needed. These guys were nothing like the marines. The marines respected us but we had rivalry with them over who could do the job better and faster and they knew our limits, but the Army, no, the Army though of us as goddamn Spartans. The medic looked at my calf first taking off the bandage and filling the hole with bio-foam. He then moved to my shoulder, he looked at it and shook his head.

"You will lose too much blood if I take it out."

"Then bio-foam it." I grunted.

The medic gulped and nodded pulling out another can of bio-foam. He placed his hand on my shoulder and tried to get the needle free from my shoulder. He struggled for a minute before I pushed him back and ripped it out of my armour. The medic stood there in shock as blood started to dribble out of the hole in my shoulder plate.

"Well? Hurry up and put the bloody bio-foam in it." I told the medic arms out in a questioning position.

The medic hurried close to me and placed the nozzle of the bio-foam into the hole in my armour and pulled on the release. The cool foam solidified inside finally giving my arm relief.

"Now, when you return to camp sir, I advise that you ask for a replacement so that you have time to rest and heal your wounds." The medic told me.

I took a step closer to the medic and glared at him.

"What did you just say?"

The medic took a step back holding his arms up to defend his face.

"I'm a fucking ODST. Do you think there are ODST's sitting around in orbit having a couple of beers waiting to be called in as replacements?" I yelled. "No! All ODST's are deployed when they arrive in system you stupid fuck!"

The medic quivered and took another step back. I turned around and huffed. I heard the sound of the medic scurry away behind me. I unclipped my helmet from my waist and placed it on. The hole left by the needle round made me look even more badass than I did with the energy sword scar and kill tally.

I walked on towards the scorpion tanks to find this unit's CO. Soldiers made way for me and nodded as I passed. It was at this time that I was sure that this whole entire unit had never scene an inch of combat.

I reached the front scorpion that was stationary in the street, not the best idea but hell these guys aren't my men.

The gunner on the lead scorpion was having a smoke and relaxing when I came up to him.

"Soldier! Where's your CO?" I asked.

The soldier jolted losing his smoke and smacked something on his leg against the tank. The soldier tried not to show the pain as he talked to an ODST. He raised his arm and pointed down the convoy.

"2nd last tank Sir." He mumbled.

I didn't nod as I turned away. I think I was going to hate this CO if he hid his bitch ass at the end of the convoy, and to think that I might have to tag along with this unit.

I reached the 2nd last tank in the convoy in no time, as there were only 5 of them. On top of the tank sat a man that was wearing his dress uniform with all his awards (which he only had one). The award he had was a unit citation, which by the looks of it was a ship citation that meant he had don't practically nothing to get that award other than be on a bloody ship when it was fighting

My rank as Sergeant made him a higher-ranking soldier. Well I wouldn't go as far as to call him a soldier, as he had never known real combat. Yet I had to show some degree of respect before I went full mental on his ass.

"Sir." I looked up at the officer sitting on the gun.

"Ah. You must be the ODST that needed to be pulled out of shit." He replied hopping down off the gun and sliding down to ground level.

"All due respect, Sir. I was in no need of help as you can clearly see by the piles of dead covenant." I spat at him with venom.

The officer took this badly and glared at me like he had more experience with fighting and I should respect him as a hero.

The officer hopped off the gun and climbed down off the tank even making sure his pants didn't get any dust on them, hell he was even wearing army dress shoes. He walked up close to me, not close enough so that he had to look up to see my face, but close enough to seem like he was trying to intimidating

"Speak to me like that in front of my men again and I will have you cleaning latrines for the rest of the campaign. Soldier" He spat back.

Calling an ODST a soldier was an insult, as it referred them to the common Army G.I. I shoved him back against his tank; his dress uniform had crumpled a bit, which made him feel uncomfortable. He had anger but also fear in his eyes as an ODST came up to him with hate.

"Now you listen here Lieutenant Shitfuck." I jabbed the Lieutenant with my fist. "You and your men have never seen an inch of combat I know that by just looking at you." I jabbed the Lieutenant again forcing him against the scorpion tank. "You try and enforce orders on a combat veteran with a confirmed 167 elite kills with 4 ultras." I told him as I tapped the side of my helmet.

The lieutenant looked like he had shit himself. His face had lost colour and his face was showing wrinkles of concern.

"You did fucking nothing to deserve that." I ripped it off and threw it to the ground.

I walked away as the lieutenant the soldiers around him just stared at me as I walked away towards a warthog that was sitting in the convoy.

"Lance Corporal! You're taking me back to base." I told the driver of the warthog as I drew closer.

The LC had been napping and his helmet fell into the back of the truck when he woke. He looked at me and gave a sharp salute. I nodded back in reply as he reached over to grab his helmet.

"Sir, I have no orders from the lieutenant to move out of the convoy." The LC replied.

"Let me worry about that."

The LC nodded and pushed the ignition button. I prepared to sit in the front seat but decided against it, for all I knew there could be a whole covvie division cutting us off from base at this moment.

"Have you heard of any covvie movements soldier?" I asked.

"Uhhh, I think I overheard the lieutenant talking to one of the falcon pilots about advancing Covenant a few clicks back."

I nodded and turned to find another soldier that we would take with us. I saw 2 soldiers talking on the side of the road doing nothing really.

"Soldier!" I shouted at no one in particular.

The both turned their heads in surprise that an ODST had called at one of them.

"Yea, you!" I pointed to the one of the left.

He seemed younger and had more time to become a better soldier, he seemed like me before ODST training. He looked even younger than me when I started. Maybe from the inner colonies, he seemed to have no scars on him to represent strength as they had to in the UNSC.

The soldier nodded to his buddy before running towards me. He arrived quickly and gave a quick salute.

"Sir, you requested me?"

"Aye, you'll be spotter for me while we head back to base. The covvies might had cut us off and I need to get back to my unit."

The soldier nodded and put on his helmet before sitting in the front seat. I climbed onto the back of the warthog and slapped the safety off the Vulcan gun on the back before taking a seat. I felt the hog lurch forward and turn around as I headed back to my team.

I managed to take a small nap before I was woken by a massive bump that the hog went over. I groaned as I had landed hard on my ass. I lifted myself up, now barely noticing the fact that I had had plasma burn through my leg and a needle lodge itself inside my arm.

"Sir! I can see some banshees in the distance, about a click out."

"Aye. Floor it. We go in hard take out as many as possible to cause chaos among their ranks so we can get out of there unscathed." I said as I got myself comfortable standing behind the Vulcan anti-aircraft chain-gun.

I steadied myself as the hog lurched forward again with the roar of its engine. We started to go extremely fast, faster than regulation would permit even in a firefight. We felt every single bump as we continued forward.

"Here we go!" I shouted as a banshee turned in our direction.

I aimed the Vulcan gun up level with the banshee and started to fire. I saw as sparks flew off it as bullets ricocheted off, but still the banshee started to rock and a small explosion rocked one of the wings as it dropped out of the sky.

"Nice shooting sir!"

We continued down the road and came across a small village with around 5-6 houses. I expected more covenant movement in the area. We passed the last house that revealed a whole covenant division. We stared in awe, as the movement of troops and vehicles was massive. Elites were shouting orders to grunts flying around on ghosts as they dragged equipment from place to place. Jackals walked around on their awkward looking bird legs, their locations varied from energy charging pods for their rifles to hovering sniper towers. As soon as we heard a small grunt squeal as his perimeter job came to an end when the hog's tire crushed it's tiny head, the whole entire division turned to find us speeding past. I turned the gun and pulled the trigger as we passed by quickly. The bullets flew out of the gun at amazing speed as they connected with grunts, jackals and elites. I saw a group of ghosts that the grunts had left to charge up and adjusted my aim as best I could at these types of speeds, to the energy canisters or whatever ONI had named them. After a few round connected with the canister the whole entire group of ghosts went up in purple flames and a hint of blue. The soldier in the front seat started to open fire with his MA5 not really hitting anything but it added to the shock of the covenant.

As quickly as we had seen the covenant we were out of view as we passed through another small town. I felt my muscles relax and a slouched my shoulders with exhaustion, I was getting to old for this shit. A bullet shell fell off from its hold in a small place in my helmet's visor.

"Sir, are you okay?" asked the Lance Corporal.

"Yea, just the shoulder." I lied.

My body, although trained, seemed to be strained and tired. My mind was still grasping at my sniping episode where I lost control. I needed time to sort myself out, yet I was still on the front fighting whole divisions with nothing but a warthog. ODSTs and Rangers might be the most physically strong, but our minds cannot process everything making us better soldiers. I looked at the boy sitting in the front seat with his weapon raised and his eyes scanning for his first covvie kill. His mind was clean of bloodshed and death, to us soldiers he was pure. Wait, why was I talking about bloodshed, I had never lost a friend; I hadn't even seen a UNSC soldier die. I felt bad as I realized I thought higher of myself than I should have been doing. I saw myself as a combat veteran, but the truth is that I could end up like another statistic of dead soldiers that lived up to nothing.

"What are your names?" I asked.

"James. Sir" The young soldier replied.

The Lance Corporal was hesitant about telling his name to me. He seemed to be worried about it.

"I would rather not, Sir." He finally said.

"Why's that?" I asked again.

"If you want to mention us to command for ODST training I don't want to join." He said. "I joined the army because I hate blood, war, and fighting. Yet I was told to sign up and so I did, the army was barely in combat so it seemed like the perfect match for me." He finished.

I nodded to the back of his head. He understood the silence even if he didn't see the nod. The young soldier beside him looked excited and worried at the same time, like a child trying something illegal with his friends for the first time.

"Are you really going to recommend us for ODSTs?" asked James.

I didn't really think about it. I don't think I even have the reputation to recommend.

"No, I just wanted to know your names."

James nodded. Now all three of us were sitting there awkwardly as the warthog cruised through the village. The LC had slowed down as we were passing through the village and he seemed on edge after that engagement. I felt that if these men were going to die someone would at least remember them.

"So James tell me about yourself."

"Well there's not much to tell. I'm from Earth, my parents are working in government."

"You ever fucked?"

James flinched a bit at that questioned. I knew that I had brought that question along quiet quickly, but I didn't expect to survive for long anyway at the rate of my combat. Maybe he was gay or something but I don't think that was it, I think he was still too young to even be thinking about it.

"Uhhhhh, no, not yet Sir." He replied. "Why do you ask?"

I didn't know why I asked. "I was just wondering, trying to get to know you and all. If reports are as bad as people say then we might be together for a long time." I said. "Hell we might even be the last in our units by the time this is over." I joked.

James didn't see this as a joke and looked sad as he thought of his unit. I knew I had brought it down on him hard but things like that tended to happen on Harvest, whole units getting wiped out in matter of hours.

"Hey I was joking. There is a reason people don't like ODSTs, our dark humor." I tried lighting the mood.

"Haha, I don't think I want to be am ODST then." James told me.

The LC in the driver seat looked uncomfortable with the conversation. We found that the small village that we had entered was actually a small city and we found ourselves turning time after time again to avoid blockades. I noticed the LC's shirt pull down to the side when he turned the car; there was a long scar across his upper back. It wasn't made by anything human; it was a plasma burn scar. This guy wasn't just some army guy who joined through pressure and he had defiantly seen combat. I saw a patch of ink on the other side of his back as he took another turn, I made out 3 letters: _Ran. _

This guy was a Ranger, a motherfucking Ranger. The Army equivalent of the ODST but much less funded and they didn't have as much armour. I had one question hovering in the back of my head, why?

The LC made another turn showing more of the tattoo. I could now see underneath all his ranks that he had past through. I saw every single rank marked down in columns of 5 all the way to lieutenant.

"Why did you leave? Sir." I asked.

The Lieutenant slammed on the brakes and turned to me quickly, anger rushing through his face with his fists curled into ball by his sides. "What the fuck did you just say to me ODST?" He grunted.

James had been thrown forward by the brakes and was recovering from his helmet turning and blocking his vision. I on the other hand was prepared for a reaction and had braced myself before the question.

"I know." I told him.

"How?" He jumped out of the hog.

"Your tattoo, on your right shoulder plate. I saw the plasma scar first that told me something was wrong with your story."

He seemed to calm down a bit after walking around. I stood up and hopped off the back of the hog. James was still getting his senses back but was still amiss of why we stopped.

"Fuck. I knew this would happen." The Lieutenant mumbled.

"You're AWOL, aren't you?" Sir." I asked.

He sat on the ground, looked up at me and nodded. His eyes now drifted off somewhere like he was remembering something. He stayed like this for a minute or two before his face started to move. First his lips frowned and then his eyebrows dipped like he was angry then his face turned into rage. He opened his mouth a roared at the top of his voice. He stopped roaring clutching a non-existing body in his hands. A tear formed at the edge of one of his eyes before grabbing onto his left shoulder plate to where his scar was, his eyes opened wide in pain and he grunted loudly several times.

"What the fuck just happened?" I asked the now motionless Lieutenant.

He stayed silent for several seconds. "My life as a Ranger."

The Lieutenant got up and walked over to the driver seat of the hog getting back in. I decided not to ask any more questions for the time being so he didn't have an episode on the road while driving. I hopped on the back my legs hanging off the edge as the hog lurched forward.

The needle went straight through his head. Blood splatted all over the windscreen and James's body fell limp on the Lieutenant's shoulder. My muscles didn't go tense and I didn't prepare for impact as the Lance Corporal slammed his foot on the breaks and turned the wheel frantically. The rear of the warthog spun out and around throwing me off and onto the ground.

I hit the ground hard, rolling before smashing into a corner of a house. Smoke and dust hovered in the air. My armour had saved me from most of the damage but I could still feel the bruises the impact had left me. My ears rang as I lifted my self up slowly, the world was spinning and I could see a crack down the side of my visor. My HUD worked fine but it was sitting there in the corner of my eye. I stood before falling, my HUD lit up detecting a broken leg. I started to crawl-walk as fast as I could. I heard shouting coming from the car, I fastened my pace and grabbed onto the end of the hog. I dragged my body as fast as I could over to where the front seat was. Blood had pooled on the seat and was now dripping onto the ground. I slipped and my helmet slid against the blood, my visor was covered in it. I wiped some off with my hand before reaching for James's body.

"James! James!" His face was pale, drained of blood.

I pulled him out of the hog and placed him on his side, blood poured out of his mouth. I rolled onto his back ripping open his thin standard army body armour and placed my hand on his chest. I pushed 4 times like I was taught in med training. I was panicking franticly pushing down on his chest in the middle of the street.

"Goddamn James! Wake the fuck up mate! Please wake the fuck up!" I screamed.

I took off my helmet to get a better view without the blood covering my eyes. Blood was now coming out of his mouth because I was pushing hard enough to break his ribs and pierce his lungs.

"James! Come on buddy!" I screamed.

I felt someone grab we from behind putting me in a headlock, forcing me to release my hold on James. I started to throw punches wildly behind me. The person tightened his grasp causing me to fall short of breath as his arm was around my next.

I stopped fighting. There was no point. James was dead, the kid that could have been my best friend now lay with hole in his head and mouth trickling out of his mouth eyes still wide open gazing at the sky. He was the first human that I see die, and he was so young, too young.

I looked up at my abductor. I expected to see the Lieutenant but I saw Ben. I fell limp and stopped fighting his hold. He let go of me and helped me up. I had actually hit the corner of the wall with my exposed calf cracking the bio-foam and now parts of it were falling off.

"Inside now." Ben told me as he walked towards one of the building.

I quickly followed before turning around and running back towards the hog to grab my rifle. I then suddenly realized that the Lieutenant had been driving but his body was nowhere to be seen.

"Drastly! Over here!" Ben shouted from a doorway.

I jogged carrying my rifle. Nothing on my armour moved because I had no clips left and my bag was empty of bullets. I felt empty and exposed with no ammo. I slowed to a walk as I entered the building. I felt different like something was gone from my life, I felt like I could never look another soldier in the eye without thinking of his death I could never look in the mirror again if I was the one in the front seat. I shrugged these feeling away and closed the door behind me.

I walked up a flight of stairs to find Ben hovering over a cooker stove. There were multiple sleeping mattresses on the floor. I looked at Ben gleamingly as if the whole team was here with him including Vlad. He shook his head with a grim face before looking down back at the pot on the cooker.

From another room walked in a soldier that I didn't recognize at all. His armour told me he was a marine, his face was covered in dust and grime telling me that he had been in the field a while. He looked at me for a bit, sizing me up before giving me a respectful nod and walking into another room.

"Who are these guys?" I asked, sitting against a wall.

Ben stood up not even flanking at me.

"Gerald! Go get that hog outside and take it round back! We'll need it for evac!" He shouted.

I heard a movement of a chair and then feet before the door opened and another marine came running out pass me, down the stairs, out the door with a slam.

"Where's Vlad." Ben spat with venom.

"He left me, when I got this." Pointing at my calf.

He now nodded and relaxing with his attitude towards me a bit, he now lent back against the back opposite me. He looked exhausted and hurt. Several parts of his armour had been ripped off from his arms and legs and there was a large burn mark on his forearm armour piece that had been filled with bio-foam.

"What happened?" I gestured to his arm.

He looked at it and chuckled a bit. "I got this about 2 days ago. I was fighting with a Marine unit with Ferdinand. Ferdinand went to flank the covvies with 2 marines; the marines came back claiming that Ferdinand had just disappeared."

"The others? Where are they? Off planet?" I asked.

He shook his head. His eyes looked desperate. "Arthur and Ferd were with me when we were deployed. Arthur was recalled for another mission; Ferd and I were told to take a marine squad into this city to root out a Wraith position. We managed to take out the Wraiths with little casualties. Then while we were working our way home we bumped into a scout group of ghosts that were leading a covvie company. We engaged them and then the whole covenant company came down on us. We fell back, Ferdi disappeared and now the marines went from 8 to 4 men and we are held up here."

I nodded knowing not to say anything. Ferdinand had disappeared and Vladimir had run off into the mountains with no ammo for anything but his pistol. This whole thing was a mess, and the other men in my ODST squad the ones I don't know, what about them?

_Hey guys, sorry if my work is getting sloppier than it already is, I just haven't had the motivation to work on this lately._

_Also give some feedback to improve the story!_

_SpartanHoplite_


	7. Ben Huntington

I stood on the roof of the half collapsed building, the other half was 7 stories below me smashed to bits blocking off one of the main roads leading through the city.

I had been here for 2 days now and nothing had happened. No firefights, to patrols, no nothing. We had just sat and watched the roads for 2 days. Some collapsed buildings had landed on another building creating a bridge. We had used these bridges to travel the rooftops watching for Covenant.

Coming across one of the bridges now was Luke. Luke was one of the Marines that were in the squad. He was around 20 and had seen more combat than me and I respected that. Marines didn't seem like they had seen a lot of combat, as they are usually 3rd or 4th replacements. Luke was different; he had survived a pelican crash on Circinius IV and had to travel 50 km with a broken foot and another soldier slung over his shoulder. He had been awarded the Gold Star for his actions and then was quickly redeployed here on Harvest. He had been here for 6 months now, he was originally going to stay for 4 months before his ship was pulling out but it was destroyed while still loading troops. Luke was one of the very last of his whole unit.

He walked towards me his long brown hair sprawled from a night of sleeping. His green eyes had seen much but today they seemed happy.

"You ok mate? You seem happy." I joked as his stepped down the rubble onto the rooftop.

"I think some longswords saw us last night. We could be going home!" He said excited.

I nodded at him awkwardly; he didn't have a home now. He knew what I was thinking and dropped his head nodding.

"I know, I know. I can't really say I'm going home." He looked up at me. "But hey, I'm doing an ODST course and then being redeployed." He smiled.

It was one of the first times I had seen him smile. He looked so happy.

"Hey that's great!" I said opening my arms. "We might even fight together again some day." I said hugging him.

"Thanks man!" He said accepting the embrace.

There were footsteps coming from the stairwell behind me. We released each other and turned to see who it was. There stood a Marine who I hadn't bothered to remember his name.

He was one of those 3rd, 4th replacements. He was fresh out of boot camp 2 weeks ago, that's what he told us. He had a normal face, no scars, his eyes were innocent not having seen anything yet, still a baby. Well speaking about it I was being quiet a hypocrite, I hadn't seen much. I mean I could boast about my kills, but I hadn't quiet been in a situation where I was shaken. I had been in a life or death situation 3 days ago but even with myself losing control of your body it didn't change me. I had seen... James die, but now after the event I felt it hadn't changed me as much as I thought it would have.

"Corporal Barnes wants you." The Marine told us.

I nodded and walked towards the soldier who stepped out of the way and saluted. I walked down the stairs that were littered with rubble and bullet casings. Lines of purple blood dried down the stairs. There was also a red blood splat on the wall showing that there was a fight for this building.

I reached the 4th floor where the new command post had been set up. Ben Barnes my fellow ODST was sitting as a desk that was riddled with bullet holes with a small amount of papers on it, most of the maps but still the desk job didn't suit him.

"Sir." I said as I walked into the room.

I didn't bother salute because really he was an equal rank as I was. He went to his desk and rested against it.

"What's up on the roofs?" Ben asked leaning back onto his chair.

"No activity, a few on the snipers say they saw Covenant forces pulling back." I said. "Any word from HQ?" I finished.

"None, the Covenant seem to be blocking the whole area off. From we can tell HQ has moved around 100 kilometers back because of some weird Covenant activity." Ben huffed.

"So no evac anytime soon I'm guessing."

"Nope, no evac."

I nodded and stood up. Ben now leaned forward again and looked down at the maps. He seemed different from the last time I saw him before leaving on mission with Vladimir.

I turned and walked back towards the stairs. Had this war changed me? I didn't feel different, I had killed a lot of Covenant but to me they didn't represent something. Yes that one elite had a picture of his family and I still had it in my left breast pocket but they were animals. I had seen James die, which affected me at the time but I got over it rather quickly.

I shook those thoughts out of my head. Right now I needed to help find a way back to HQ or link up with another group because our food and water supply was quickly diminishing.

I walked out onto the half broken roof where I once was and grabbed my rifle from its position overlooking one of the main streets in this city. The gun was still in pristine condition it had battle scratches from all the movement but she had never been hit and I cleaned her daily.

"Corporal! I have some movement over here!" I heard one of the marine snipers call from across the street.

I slung my rifle over my back and jogged over the collapsed building that was serving as a bridge. I arrived to see all the Marine snipers aiming away from the street but off into the grasslands beyond the city boundaries. I moved to the highest-ranking marine who just happened to be a higher rank than I was.

"Sergeant. What can I do for you?" I asked.

The sergeant was looking through a pair of binoculars and was frowning. He didn't move for 5 seconds before looking away from the binoculars.

"Major covvie movement Corporal, we've heard the stories about your sniping so we are going to need you." He told me.

I gestured at the binoculars at that he gave them to me to examine the movement. I looked to the horizon where I saw massive amounts of Covenant converging on one area. I was dumbstruck at why the Covenant would put their forces so tightly packed together out in the open exposed to MAC cannon fire. My question was answered 5 seconds later.

"Holy fucking shit!" I yelled.

A massive Covenant super-carrier dropped through the clouds with an escort of hundreds of banshees and phantoms. The sleek, curvy purple hull spun around as the light shimmered under it. It descended quickly and deployed a massive ramp. I was expecting to see millions of grunts, jackals, and elites pour out of it but instead the Covenant forces started to load up. I realized what was about to happen.

"Get the men down from the roofs now and tell them to grab everything that they can." I told the Sergeant before running off.

I was sprinting now, very intense shit. I nearly fell through a window while running across the bridge before slamming into the wall next to the stairs. I did it to slow me down but only for a bit before I ran down the stairs heading for the 7th floor. I smashed down the makeshift door with my shoulder to the surprise of everyone in the room.

"Matthew! What the fuck are you doing!" Ben yelled standing up with his pistol in his hand.

"No time to explain. We have to leave fucking now!" I yelled at everyone.

All the marines in the room started to franticly pack things into their bags while another marine went out to tell all the others to start packing. Ben took another step closer to me, and looked me dead in the eyes.

"What the fuck, is going on?" He muttered.

I took this as an insult. He was thinking I was challenging his command and Ben loved his Command. He was next in-line for command of the squad and that is a one-way ticket for going from Corporal to Lieutenant with one death. Not wanting to start a fight a stepped back letting him know that I wasn't challenging him.

"Covenant Super-Carrier. They weren't deploying troops, they were picking them up." I let that sink into Ben's mind for a second. "They are about to glass this area Ben. We need to leave now."

Ben now took a step back slowly, taking in all the information I had just told him before nodding, quickly turning around and grabbing all the maps that were sprawled out on his desk.

I now ran off and went to my makeshift room. I hadn't unpacked much since I had arrived as most of my hours were spent roaming the roofs searching for Covenant. I walked into the room and grabbed my bag, it felt empty, as it should had, I had scavenged for bullets before piling up the bodies and managed to pick up around 10 rounds that had fallen out while moving around.

"Drastly!" Ben ran into the room. " The marines have already bolted without us, they went rooftop jumping."

I nodded as I slung my bag over my shoulder and hooked it onto my armour. We climate control was all messed up from the ruptures in my armour caused by the plasma and needler round.

"We still got the hog parked out front right?" I asked as we jogged down the stairs.

"Aye, but she's nearly out of fuel and we can't risk using our water." Ben replied.

"Out of fucking fuel? I traveled like for 2 hours from the convoy and they only travelled for 4 hours because they were air-lifted half the way." I swore.

"Well the LT must have been a little shit then."

"You have no idea." I shook my head. "He was wearing his dress with a ship commendation."

Ben opened the door before looking at me and smirking. "He was wearing dress into a possible battle zone. Amateur."

Throwing his gear into the front seat with a thud, Ben climbed up and moved the gun around to get it oiled up again.

"You know. I once woke up and wore my PT gear into a assault when I was woken up too late to get dressed into my armour."

I laughed as I walked around at got into the driver's seat of the car, which was on the left. I pushed the ignition and the warthog started up instantly like they always did. I put my foot on the acceleration and we drove off. Both of us for a moment forgot that we were supposed to be running from a massive Super-Carrier that was about to glass the area until banshees flew overhead.

"Sons of bitches!" Ben screamed as he fired the gun.

One of the banshees was hit in the wing and veered off course slamming into a building in a ball of purple flames. The other two banshees now realizing they were under fire, turned around and now came back to attack us.

"Nice one you stupid fucker!" I yelled back to Ben as he once again fired from the gun.

I saw a green blob on energy come from underneath one of the banshees. The debris that were littered on the road limited my movement as I tried to avoid the blob. "Fuck!" I swerved hard to the right as the blob of energy hit the place where I would have driven.

"Fire that damn gun Ben!" I yelled.

I put on the handbrake and turned hard allowing Ben to continue firing on the banshees. We were stationary for half a minute before the banshees turned around. I now reversed the hog as fast as I could while Ben continued to fire. Another green blob appeared from underneath one of the banshees. I swore under my breath as I realized I had no room to maneuver. I stopped with a jolt causing empty shell casings to fall down my armour. I hadn't realized it, but I wasn't wearing my helmet well it was too late now.

The green blob of energy skimmed over our heads and exploded behind us. I once again reversed as I saw one of the banshees slam into the ground, tumbling over several times before exploding. The remaining banshee pulled up and flew away from us, probably to get reinforcements. I sighed with relief as now we had time to hide.

"Ben mate you alright!" I shouted back behind me.

"Aye… ehh." He replied with a wiry voice.

"Ben…" I said sternly.

"Just a bit of splash from the fuel rod cannon shot. My back is a bit burnt, I'll be right."

I knew it was probably worse than he would admit, which meant that hiding is out of the question. We needed to get back to HQ quick or Ben wasn't going to make it. I floored the accelerator and we sped off towards the outskirts of the city.

"You have any family?"

"I think my brothers are alive somewhere on a innie planet. My parents, I don't know. You?"

"Haha funny you asked." Ben pulled out a picture. "She's 2 this year. I left 2 days after she was born. She's beautiful isn't she? A lot like my wife." Ben gleamed.

"Haha, she has your nose you know." I smiled.

I handed the picture back and Ben put it in his breast pocket holding his hand there even after he put it away.

"You want to have a family, Drastly?"

"Yea. There was a girl back on Levosia." I paused. "She died during a innie bombing."

"Sorry man must have been hard."

"Yea, I left Levosia for boot camp the next day. I couldn't stand staying there." I choked. "With her memory and all."

"Doesn't matter though. The past is the past… I guess." I stopped. "Where you from anyway?"

"New Carthage."

"Wait, what. Did you say New Carthage?"

"Aye, what about it."

"I thought New Carthage's colonists were Finnish?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean some of us can't be of other descent."

"Beats me."

We sat there in the middle of a river of boulders that provided us some peace of mind as we prepared to sleep. We had dismounted the M41 "Vulcan" from the warthog which I was now using as my primary weapon and had tipped the warthog on it's side to throw off any covvies that might fly over this way looking for us. My bag had been filled with line after line of ammo for the Vulcan and it held surprisingly a lot of ammo for its size. Ben's back had gotten worse in the time that we had taken to get to this point.

Ben was in bad shape as I turned to go to sleep. Neither of us was going to go on watch tonight. We simply didn't care about it. We had a 100 to 1 chance of making it back alive and we wanted a good last night sleep.

I woke expecting to find my self in the middle of a group of covenant preparing to torture and kill us, or as a prisoner of the covenant going to be tortured and killed. Yet I was in the place I was before I had gone to sleep. I was now feeling sharp pains on my calf and shoulder, the bio-foam was breaking down and soon I be feeling a lot of pain.

"Ben, time to go mate." I pushed Ben's body.

For a second I thought he was dead before he started coughing. I sighed with relief Ben wasn't dead. I thought that was a stupid thing to be relieved about but then I remembered that we were at war and during war you happen to be relieved that in the morning your mate isn't dead.

I stood up and picked up the heavy M41 Vulcan and slung my bag full of ammo around my shoulders. I looked like a full on badass ODST right now and without the ODST training I would be on my face dying of the amount of weight that I was carrying.

"Matthew."

I turned around to face Ben who was still lying on the ground with his head turned examining his massive burn on his back. It looked bad really bad. The burn started from just under his shoulder plates and went all the way down to just above his ass, his spine was fine though with the extra armour plating that he had around it but you could still see bits of his spine just under the burnt skin.

"I'm not going to make it. Take my gear, and send my family a message. Tell my daughter that I'm fighting for her and daddy will be home soon. Too my wife… Tell her I'll be missing dinner. " He coughed. "1563 Overgrod Road, Huntington Family."

Ben slumped back onto his back and lay there looking absently into the sky as if he was watching the naval battle above. His face went from pain to blank.

"Ben you fucking cunt. I am not leaving you here." I dropped the M41 and took off the backpack.

I walked over to him and grabbed the spare bio-foam can from his calf and pushed him over. He grunted in pain as I started to spray the worst burnt areas with the bio-foam. The can emptied and his back was a mess of red and white blotches.

"Drastly don't be stupid, we'll never make it. We have 50 kilometres to go and with me on your back we will be glassed."

I took my pistol out of it holster and hit him in the head with the but of the M60 knocking him unconscious. I proceeded to empty the ammo from my bag and fill it with all the bits and pieces that were in Ben's bag like his maps and his personal holo-pad. I took his MA5 and all his ammo filling my pouches to the brim. I ripped off my right shoulder plate, which was irritating my wound and threw it to the ground.

"Let's go buddy." I said to the unconscious Ben before picking him up and placing him on top of my shoulders.

I set off leaving an empty can of bio-foam, a M41 Vulcan and my shoulder guard behind. I looked to the east to where the sun was rising and headed along the road heading towards it. It was time for us to go home.

The needle rounds slammed into the wall just as I sprinting into the house. They exploded in a shower of concrete. Ben was still unconscious in the corner where I had left him 5 minutes ago.

I slammed another mag into Ben's MA5 and peaked around the corner. I managed to see the group of grunts waddle towards me before a plasma round slammed into the wall next to my head. I pulled back into the house and slid down the wall heavily breathing from the near death experience. I took off my helmet to inspect for plasma burning and found that there were some scars on the top from splash damage. The plasma had stopped burning through though.

I made for the roof by climbing stairs and then a ladder through a hatch. I crawled along the roof careful not to get spotted by the jackals. I reached the corner of the square building and peaked over the top seeing the grunts nervously moving towards the doorway where I once was.

I checked that there was a round it the chamber before lifting myself onto one knee and firing down on the grunts below. I felt the recoil as every shot fired and continued to force the gun down to the targets after every shot. It happened in slow motion for me, I saw the grunts squeal and fall one by one. My eyes closed and opened again as I flinched from the recoil.

As quickly as I had started firing I was down on my stomach reloading and avoiding shots. I now crawled back to the ladder and climbed all the way down to where Ben still lay unconscious. What was I going to do?

I went to the door and sprayed about half the mag outside to fend off any advancing elites while I thought of a plan.

I looked out all the windows and one intrigued me. There was a fast flowing river behind the house that was heading east towards where the sun was. It was the only chance of survival.

I walked over to where Ben lay and unclipped his helmet from his belt and put it on his head. I then sealed it by connecting it with his under-armour. I did the same with mine. I slung the MA5 onto my back and grabbed Ben now dragging him instead of carrying him. I ran out the door and around the corner as fast as I could while limping from my calf burn. Shots landed all around us and we passed behind the house, I felt a sting of pain in my Achilles heel but I didn't bother to look, as I dragged Ben down a slope towards the river.

Now 100 metres away I could here the deep voiced shouts of an elite as it directed the jackals to push forward to chase us. We were now once again under fire.

"Fucking, fuck! You fucking owe me for this you fucking cunt bag!" I screamed at the still unconscious Ben.

I picked up Ben and threw him into the rapids and jumped in after him. I was immediately pushed down and thrown about like I was a feather. I felt my body smash into rock after rock. My helmet did its job and provided air for me while I was under water. I though everything was going all right until my helmet hit a rock and knocked me out.

My body felt damp. I opened my eyes; there was a crack on the right side of my visor though all the tings on my HUD worked fine. I checked my body any wounds when I realized something. Ben.

I stood up and turned to face down river looking out to try and see if I could see him. I used my helmets built in binoculars to try and spot him but all I saw was the movement of blue water smashing into rocks.

I collapsed onto the floor and just sat there. Ben was gone. I tried to remember what he had told me. 1563 Overgrod Road, Huntington Family. His little girl, should I send her letters to pretend to be here father? Should I tell her that her father was dead?

"Ben… Oh Ben… Why…"

"Why what mate?"

I turned around to see Ben standing there, slouched over in pain, smiling. He had taken his helmet off and I could see that fucking English ginger face of his. I stood up and charged and his and punched in the face. His nose started to bleed a small bit.

"That's for making me nearly die for you asshole." I said before laughing.

"Well I did say you could leave me didn't I?" He laughed back holding onto his nose.

We closed in and gave each other a hug, well a manly hug. You know those one handed ones with a body check. I slapped him on the shoulder and he winced in pain.

"Pussy." I said before walking off.

"You fucking try having you back burnt of you cunt." Ben replied.

"I'll pass."

We both laughed as Ben put his helmet on and we headed down along the riverbank to the east.

The sun had reached midday point and we still had about another 2 hours of walking at this speed. We had considered jumping into the river again until we realized it turned south away from where we wanted to go.

Ben had begun to be more sluggish the more we walked. He constantly refused to rest even though we probably weren't even being pursued by the Covenant.

I had given Ben his MA5 when he realized I had taken it and now all I had slung around my back was my rifle. The gun was heavy and useless, as I had absolutely no ammo for it. Well that wasn't true but I nearly had no ammo for it.

"You think Vlad made it?" Ben asked me.

I shrugged. "Don't know, maybe. He had a full day head start on me and that means he didn't have Covenant trying to kill his ass half the time. So he is probably back at camp fucking Lieutenant Hughes the bastard."

Ben laughed even though it caused him pain. "Both of you have good luck getting with Hughes, she's got the goings with Ferdi. Well that is if he's still alive." He paused. "Then you have a chance aye?" He chuckled weakly trying to bring light to the conversation.

We both stopped talking and started to think how many members of our squad were dead. I only knew a few of them, Ferdinand, Vladimir, Ben, and Arthur. I'm sure I learnt the others names but I have completely forgotten.

We continued to walk for another hour becoming slower and slower as Ben's condition became worse and worse. He stumbled a few times and just blamed it on tripping on a rock or something, but we both knew that he might not make it.

"Mate, you need to rest." I told him.

"Drastly, for the thousandth time. Fuck off." He replied.

I chuckled a bit at his answer. I don't know why but I just suddenly found it funny.

My Achilles heel started hurting again and a stopped to check it out. Ben used this time to slump of the ground, he knew that it was my choice to stop so his bloody English pride was still intact and all. I pulled off my boot and found that my Achilles heel armour had a hole blown into it. I could now clearly I found that half of a needler round had lodged itself inside my foot. The other half must have been broken off when I was tumbling through the river.

I put my boot back on and clipped it on to my calf amour.

"Ben, let's go." I said standing up and walking away.

Ben lay where he was not making a sound. For a second I thought he had gone to sleep until I checked his vitals on my HUD.

"Ben!"

_Hey guys I hope you have been enjoying the story so far. I apologise for the long waits between the chapters as I often do parts of the story each day and get side-tracked._

_I am also worried about some of my writing, I know its a dick move to ask for reviews but I really need them guys. Tell me what I'm doing well and what I need to improve on along with what you want to see happen more in the story. Nothing is planned out for this, everything I write just comes to my head while I'm writing in bed at midnight like right now._

_Anyone cheers for those people that have stayed on with me all the way and thank you for your support._

SpartanHoplite


	8. Nearly Home

_Hey guys sorry about the long time between chapter uploads. It's just the fact that I have been traveling a lot lately with my school and all._

_Cheers_

_SpartanHoplite_

Blood dripped down my face. Sweat started to drench my back. My back strained by the weight. My mind was dead. I had lost all feeling in my legs but they just kept on moving forward. Vision blurred I didn't stop.

In the distance I could see the outlines of human bodies. I didn't stop to rest. I knew I needed to get to them as soon as possible.

Ben moved around on my shoulders as I ran through the vast fields that surrounded this area. His back was bleeding through the bio-foam down my back and face.

"Hang in there you English bastard!" I yelled at his unconscious body.

Everything seemed to be going in slow motion for me. I could feel every drop of sweat fall off my face. My legs seemed to be moving in sync with the world. I drew slowly closer to the constantly moving shadows of men.

I ran for several more minutes before I reached a bridge with the men on the other side. Along with them were a scorpion tank and 2 warthogs. I made for the closest warthog.

"Stop! Hell Jumper, this is a restricted area! State your intentions!" Boomed one of the soldiers over a loud speaker.

I didn't stop to reply. My legs kept on moving faster as I moved towards the warthog.

"ODST! Stop now or we will fire upon you!" The voice boomed again.

I started to sprint faster as feeling started to return to my legs and my calf began burning with pain. My face was scrunched up and I was grunting with every step.

I heard a shot and then a wiz as I bullet passed over my head. They had fired a warning shot. What ever place this was it had to have something to do with ONI if they were firing on human soldiers.

"Friendly!" I shouted as loud as I could.

Obviously I didn't shout loud enough when I bullet went straight through my wounded shoulder. I dropped to one knee still balancing Ben on my back. I screamed in pain as I lifted my body up and began to cross the bridge. The men stood in disbelief of my determination.

"Someone help him!" I heard a soldier call.

"You will do no such thing soldier!" The voice boomed again.

I expected another shot to come as I moved forward, but none came. I was nearly at the warthog when I heard another gunshot. My exposed calf had a hole torn through it and I fell over.

"Soldier! Kill him and his comrade!" The voice boomed.

I lay on the ground, gasping for air as my body went into shock. I was losing too much blood and my vitals were all over the place. I place a hand on the ground and pushed myself up with my good arm. I heard shouting behind me but it was drowned out by the sound of my heart beating.

I saw Ben lying on the floor, his vitals failing on the cracked side of my HUD. I grabbed his body in agony before falling to the floor again on my back. I watched as a man stood over Ben's limp body and drew his pistol. I didn't watch as I heard a shot. I gave up and my mind went black.

I woke in a bright room. My eyes took their time to adjust to the brightness before I inspected where I was. The room was bare and I knew I was in an ONI facility then and there when I smelt the disinfectant that would have been used for after the last occupant of this room ended his usefulness.

I lifted my head and looked down at my body. My wounds had only been bio-foamed to prevent bleeding and numbed my pain. I knew that they weren't going to waste time and resources on a single ODST.

I wasn't tied to the table, which actually surprised me, as ONI liked to have little resistance when cutting off soldiers' balls. I got up off the table and stood up on the ground.

"Corporal Matthew Drastly." Said a voice.

I turned my head to find the source of the voice but to no avail. The room had no interrogation window thingy that I could see and there were no speakers that were visible.

"Enlisted age 18. Age 19. Enlisted into Army, trained ODST. Rank Corporal. Parents on Levosia status unknown. Brother's location unknown suspected high-ranking rebel ground troops."

I began to feel dizzy, I had lost blood and they hadn't replaced it. I stumbled a bit as I attempted to get back onto the metal table I had once been lying on. I tripped falling to the ground.

"He doesn't seem like an ODST." I heard a voice whisper over the speaker. They must have forgotten to turn it off. "He seems too small and frail."

I had had enough already and this was only their first insult.

"Well fucking come out here so I can show you who's frail dipshit!" I screamed.

I lifted myself from the floor and leaned against the metal table. The world around me began to spin. I now lifted myself successfully onto the table and lay down. Things didn't get better as I passed out again.

I heard yelling from within my dreams. I could tell I had been moved from the metal table in the bare room because I felt a drifting feeling not so long ago.

"Clear!" I heard one o the voices yell.

"We need more blood! Also grab the fucking bio-foam! We need to fix this quick so we have more time to save this ODST bastard!" Another yelled obviously the leader.

At first I thought I was in a battle zone. Then I realized that there wouldn't be a hospital with bright lights in a battle zone. Well not on Harvest at least.

"We're losing him! Get more blood goddamnit! Fuck the bio-foam is failing!" I heard the leader's voice scream.

The lights were no closer and brighter than they were before. I'm dying I thought. My wounds must have been worse than I thought. I should have stayed in that village and gotten more help from that medic. Well then again that whole entire army company that they sent would probably have been glassed by now, poor bastards.

"That's it. We lost him. He's gone. Nothing we can do." I heard a voice.

"Fuck!" Screamed the leader before I heard something smash.

There was a silence for a couple of seconds before I realized what had happened. Ben.

"Ben!" I screamed as I jumped up from my bed.

All the medical staff in the room recoiled in shock so falling onto the ground. I looked to my right to see a pool of blood on the floor and then a soldier's limp body on top of an operating table. I ripped off all the medical equipment that was attached to me and got off my bed.

"Ben! No, please!" I screamed as I have a massive adrenaline rush of sadness and despair.

I moved quickly the soldier's bed. It wasn't Ben. That means he might be alive I felt a rush of adrenaline and turned around and cheered a small bit. I would look bad me cheering next to a dead body, but it wasn't Ben! It I felt a jab hit my shoulder. I knew that the doctors were putting me out because of my condition. Yet my body fought back for longer than it should have and I was jabbed again before my body gave way to the drugs.

"You have 167 confirmed kills? 3 of them Ultras?"

"Yes."

"With which weapon did you kill that many elites?"

"SRS-98 Sniper Rifle."

"Where did you get this Sniper Rifle? They are not standard issue."

"UNSC Hummingbird's armory."

"Why were you given this rare weapon instead of the standard issue SRS-99?"

"I am related to its previous owner."

Upon hearing this, the man stood up and left the room in a hurry leaving me to stare off into space, thinking of Ben. 1563 Overgrod Road, Huntington Family that might be my next stop if ONI allows me to leave here without a bullet in my head.

I remembered the night with Ben when we sat in the middle of the field of rocks. Tending out injuries he told me about his family, and I felt special for it. He had told me, even though he I was the only person around him at the time. He could have told Ferdinand about so that in the case that Ben did die. Wait, Ferdinand. He might as well be dead too. Did he have a family? Was there another address, another daughter to tell her Daddy would be home soon while actually her dad was nothing but molten glass because there were too many dead bodies to pick up from the battlefield. I felt rage swell through me, I wanted to leave and find my friends, whether ONI will help me or not.

I stood up from my seat, the metal chair falling over with a smash.

"What the fuck do you want from me?" I screamed my arms raised. "If you're going to kill me, fucking do it already you group of fucking shits!"

I started to kick at the massive solid metal door.

"All you guys ever do is hamper the fucking war effort for the men on the frontlines! You may be winning your war with your mythical fucking alien fucking cunt Spartans! But out there on the frontlines! We are the reason those Spartans win!" My kicking broke the lock on the door, which was surprising.

I checked to see if they opened it from the outside but the lock was still stuck in the wall as I pushed open the door.

The two ONI private security guards that were on watch stood dumbstruck as a 6ft 6 (I grew during training) ODST burst out of a high security room, they backed off a bit. One reached for his M6C that was in its holster on his waist. He was around 5ft 7 which was tiny by todays standards, I reached for him. He threw a punch, which I dodged and sent my own punch back slamming into his face. I grabbed the M6C out of its holster and turned aiming it at the other guard who had fumbled with his.

"Drop the fucking weapon!" I yelled as he tried to pick it up.

The guard dropped it as raised his hands as I ran up to him and punched him in the face and he fell to the floor unconscious. I continued down the corridor gun ready for the next guard.

A minute later I heard an alarm. Someone realized I was gone. There were no cameras in the room because ONI wanted to keep their interrogations as leak-free as possible. I heard the running of combat boot against the concrete floor and the clatter of equipment.

I came to a corner and peaked around to see the guards actually running away from me. Also the men weren't guards, they were Army.

"There he is!" I heard from behind me.

I turned to now see three guards with guns raised running towards me. They had their weapons still in their holsters for some reason. I raised my weapons and they stopped surprised as if they didn't have orders to contain me and bring me back to the interrogation room.

"Sir, the Major asked to see you." One of them told me hands raised.

My head cocked to the side like a dog, confused. The Major, who was the Maj…

Sydney. The man who started me on my journey here and I hated him for it.

The 3 guards still on edge about something guided me through the base towards the Major. I was prepared to beat the shit out of the Major if I didn't value my life so much.

"Right in here, sir." One of the guards told me before the group of them ran down the corridor off to do something else.

I didn't bother knocking on the door and instead just pushed the door opened and walked in. I found myself in the middle of a War Room. There were technicians moving around and other staff manning the equipment. In the middle was a large holographic table with the overlay of what seemed to be the exterior of the ONI base. It was standard ONI, built into the side of a mountain and most of the facility was underground. But the front of the base, which was the part that was exposed, had large amounts of defense and equipment stationed around it. I realized what was happening, the Covenant had caught up.

"Corporal Drastly!" I heard the German accent and knew who it was straight away.

"Major." I replied.

I heard the sound of an electric motor. I turned to my right to find the Major sitting gin a wheelchair. I looked at it questionably.

"Covenant shot my pelican on the way in. Several needler rounds went into my leg. Not enough to cause an explosion, but still serious." He told me as he lifted his pant leg showing the holes in his that had been stitched back together.

I lifted mine and showed an even worse wound, which had been caused by the plasma round almost 9 days ago I think. The Major looked and it while I took off my shoe to show a needler hole in my Achilles heel. Several people in the room turned to find out what the whole deal was about. The Major looked at my wounds and then looked at his wheelchair and frowned. I hadn't finished demolishing the Major's reputation as a tiny group of technicians stopped and looked at my wounds. I slid my shoulder sleeve down on my ONI shirt showing a scar from the early needler round.

"These two." I pointed at my shoulder and calf. "Untreated for 6 days except bio-foam. This one." I pointed at my heel. "Much more recent, I was actually here when the bio-foam wore off, your ever friendly ONI staff refused to treat it."

The whole room seemed to have slowed down as they sensed the tension between the Major and I.

"Sir a pelican is waiting for you on the other side of the mountain." A soldier told the Major before exiting the room escaping a thrashing.

"Corporal, I just wanted to tell you that although you have put two guards in bed for a while and breaking out of an ONI facility would result in a very severe court-martial. Yet once again because of your gene's we are letting you off, and also I pulled a few favors." The major finished feeling proud about himself. He looked at me and waited for a thank you.

I turned to leave the room. Before I felt someone grab my arm. I expected it to be the major but as I turned I saw Ben.

"Ben?" I asked.

He nodded. Turning around he lifted his shirt to show a mass of bandages slung around his back. You could see some of them had spots of blood on them from his destroyed back.

"My lungs." Ben coughed.

I nodded understanding that he couldn't speak well.

Ben then nodded over to the other side of the room where 2 high ranked officials stood over a holo-table staring at me. I looked at them and one gestured for me to join them.

I walked over to the table where the men stood. They didn't say a word to me, just stared. One of the men gestured to his assistant who proceeded to reset the holo-table to its original setting, which was a perfectly clear ONI base.

"Corporal, if you would kindly watch and listen carefully to this."

The assistant pressed another button and the hologram started moving forward in time that was shown by a clock on the bottom right hand side of the hologram.

"As you can see here, there has been a steady build up in defensive structures along the front of the base here." He pointed at a position about 50 km from the entrance to the ONI base.

I watched as trench networks and bunkers were set up along with the arrival of 2 divisions worth of troops, which were both army and marine by the looks. None of the troops that arrived looked like they had just arrived in system. I know that there isn't that much detail on a hologram but just how the way that they were walking showed that they weren't in a rush to go off and fight again.

"With the arrival of all these troops we sent out men to find out why they were gathering here and we found out that we are the only UNSC strong point in the whole entire sector, and let me tell you this sector is pretty big." The assistant told me. "Now I know that there would be pockets of resistance all over the sector in cities and towns but that area is getting glassed quick. The navy is helping either as it has it's own problems."

"Won't they just glass here as well?" I asked.

"No. But that information is classified." Said one of the high-ranking officials. It was the first time either of them had talked.

I nodded and looked back at the assistant who proceeded with the hologram.

"Around about 3 am this morning we got a evacuation call from Admiral Preston Cole saying that several Covenant ships had dropped down into orbit above us. Now for classified reasons the ONI base and the surrounding area is safe but we are expecting the full force of the Covenant land forces to be attacking us."

The hologram no started to show advancing Covenant forces.

"Now, there have been Covenant scouts in the area but the rest of the hologram is pure calculation. We have no idea where they will attack or when but using data from previous engagements we have predicting what the Covenant might do."

"So what happens if they do something different and they fuck you over because of your bullshit way of setting up a defense?" I turned to the officials. "No offence but your tactics are out of date and suck dick."

The whole room was shocked at the language I used except for Ben and the Major who expected the language to come from a "battle-hardened" ODST. I say battle hardened because technically I have been injured several times and fought in several skirmishes.

"We didn't devise this plan. We are merely teachers." Said the same official nodding at the assistant.

I looked at the assistant now and saw his face red with anger and his hands clutched into fists.

"If you are going to punch me buttercups get on with it." I taunted.

Several people in the room laughed at the statement, which sent the assistant into a rage. He screamed and contemplated punching an ODST but chose against it and left the room instead.

"Seeing as we lost our tactician. Why don't you enlighten us on your thoughts Corporal." I suspected a hint of sarcasm in his voice but played along.

Nodding I went around to the control panel and reset the hologram. Now showing just the ONI base and the already in place defensive measures.

"Look. Your "assistant" was prepared for Wraiths firing and just constant pushing by the Covenant forces. So now there is just a straight line of defense. No flexibility." I pointed at the hologram. "Now what if the Covenant changes their tactics which has been known to happen. And we end up with an army behind our lines, which contain all of the military force stationed at this ONI base." I finished. The officials nodding, agreeing with my thoughts

I started to play with the hologram adding Covenant vehicles and troops as well as moving around the whole entire army of the UNSC that was stationed here.

I moved away revealing my tactic. Architects were hired to design ONI bases and this one had decided to add a massive over-hang, which just happen to be made out of a mixture of Titanium-A and concrete.

The officials leaned in as I began to talk again. "Now if you see here. We have pockets of our men that will give one hell of a fight; meanwhile we use the landmarks to provide us a tactical advantage." I pointed at a lake in-between 2 pockets of men. "This lake can't be crossed by Covenant infantry, but I know, their vehicles can hover across. That is why the pockets are given large amounts of ammunition and weapons so they can hold out against anything. Also seeing as these two pockets are closest to the main defense line at the front door of the ONI base, I say we give them mounted gauss canons. That way when vehicles try and cross they get hit from the side." I swallowed the spit that had been forming in my mouth from talking so much as the officials started to nod in approval.

"Now of course these pockets are going to be far out from the main line. That is why there are trench lines that run in between everything. Now the Covenant can try to entre the trenches, which is why check points will be placed to make sure that positions don't get over run from our own trenches. This also provides a retreat route if needed." One of the officials raised his hand."

"Yes?"

"Have you received any training at a academy by any chance Corporal?" He asked.

"No sir."

"Then how do you have a massive understanding of UNSC tactics and hardware, coming out of basic training only a couple of weeks ago?"

I realized where they were going with this. They wanted to see if I had been spying on higher ranking officers and feeding information to the Covenant. It had been happening over the years and now since the war had started it was getting worse with offers of a safe-haven from the Covenant being offered to anyone who provides tactical information.

"My brothers, sir."

"Your brothers?" The officials looked at each other. "Aren't they Insurgents? High ranking insurgents at that."

"Yes but when I was younger they used to teach me about tactics in a hope that one day I would join them, fighting for the innies. Well I didn't join and now I'm here helping you. So you can either arrest me or I can carry on?" I defended.

The people in the room weren't used to outbursts from ODST's and higher authority being challenged and they all went quite in waiting for the response from the officials.

"Carry on then." One of them said.

I gave them both a look before I continued talking.

"Anyway. The main reason the main defense line is so close to the front door is because of the overhang." I pointed at the ONI building. "That overhang will deny the use of long range Wraiths and the use of banshees and phantoms will be limited as they will be vulnerable so close to the ground. So the Covenant will be forced to come straight at us in a tight space that we have packed with gun and explosives. Also just incase seeing as ONI is unpredictable. C-12 will be placed on the overhang so that if we are pushed back then we can block the front door."

I got up from leaning over the table and nodded at both of the officials who looked pleased and nodded back at me.

"Seems like we hired the wrong man. We should have hired you Corporal Drastly. We'll put a good word in for you." One of them said shaking my hand.

I shook the other mans hand. "By the way Corporal, we're not ONI. We're HIGHCOM." He told me.

"What's the difference?" I replied.

Both the officials and I had a small chuckle before they left to the other side of the room to conduct the preparations.

I returned to Ben and the Major who hadn't really moved from their positions when I left them. I looked at Ben and he was giving me look.

"What? You're surprised that I had tactical prowess? Asshole, I'm surprised your weak ass survived." I joked.

He punched my shoulder in reply and coughed a bit as he chuckled inside. I turned to the Major who smiled at me. I realized there was more to this man than him sitting behind a desk and sending boys like me off to their deaths. He was still wearing the ODST shoulder pads. They were a much older model than mine, which gave me the thought that he used to be an ODST, maybe as early as the early Insurrection movement?

"Well Corporal. I guess it is time for you to go to the front line and organize your defense." The major joked.

I chuckled a bit at it as his assistant tapped him on his shoulder reminding him of his pelican. He nodded and looked at me again. He now held out his hand, which I shook.

"Just don't leave us behind, sir." I told him as he rolled away out the door.

I looked back at Ben. "Time to get to work then ey Benny?"

"Drastly you're on watch." Muttered one of the marines that I was stationed with.

I got up from my sleeping bag and walked towards the stairs that led to ground level. My watch would be for 2 hours and it was the middle of the night, I was not looking forward to it.

We had spent the last 2 days digging and digging. The whole entire 2 divisions worth of men had been digging and we were making good progress. Our positions were made better than we had expected because we had more time to plan it out. I mean imagine 60,000 people harden men and women working at a defense line. I had been expecting a shabby sleeping area with not much of a bunker looking position. Yet ONI had just been pumping out the materials and we had built a perfect bunker with access to below ground and multiple trenches.

"I'll be waking you up in 2 hours Scott."

"Fuck off wanker." Scott replied turning towards the wall as I climbed the stairs.

I had gotten my helmet repaired but I asked them to keep the marks and the crack on my visor. They told me the visor would work perfectly but I would still see the crack on the outer layer of the visor. The night-vision was working perfectly and I could see all out in front of my position. I shouldn't have really been worrying. There were around 10 more positions dotted around in front of me. Since we were the last position we were sung in between a cliff and the lake.

I smiled. It had been the first proper smile in ages. My mind was speaking gibberish to me. I thought abut everything most of the time. Yet right now this was perfect. I took off my helmet and I could see the moon reflecting off the lake.

1 kilometer away was one of my only friends. Ben was on the position opposite me. Us being the only ODST's in the sector we were being held back to organize the defense. This also confirmed our fears about the death of our squad. We doubted that they would have jumped sectors so quickly without finding each other.

I put my helmet back on. "Ben you there?"

Ben and I had organized that we had the same watch time so we could have a chat every night. We couldn't really socialize with anyone, not until we had been seen by a psyche. Because something was wrong with Ben, even though his lungs were better he didn't talk as much as he used to and my ego was out of control right now. Every time I kill a Covenant, even a grunt I look to the man next to me to see if he was watching.

"Yep. Sorry went for a piss."

"Aight."

There was a silence, a silence that wouldn't have happened if we were or normal selves.

"So, when do you think the attack will come?"

"Tomorrow. Friday tops." Ben replied.

"Nah, tonight. Or early morning."

"Really you think so?"

"Yea I mean the Covenant aren't exactly the most patient people." I told Ben.

"Nah, tomorrow. They will still be trying to get through that massive wall. You know the ONI base AI has been using automated defenses to fuck around with the covvies?"

"50 credits."

"Deal."

The silence once again returned. I looked around at the weapons locker on the wall. ONI had taken my 98 for research or some shit and they told me to stay away from sniping for the next couple of battles. Dickheads.

I sat down in a cheap plastic chair of which ONI had plenty of for interrogations. It was comfortable enough but it felt like it was going to brake under a full armour ODST.

"Matthew. Do you hear that?" I heard Ben ask.

"Ben don't fuck with me mate, I just sat down and I don't want to go shoo off a animal." I replied.

"No. It sounds like gunfire."

I shot up out of my chair and turned up the listening on my helmet. I waited and I could hear the faintest of shots. That would have been the first trench line. The question was why weren't they radioing?

"Ben! Message everyone! The Covenant are moving in Jammers!" I yelled through my helmet.

I saw the first flashes on the horizon. I grabbed a MA5 from the weapons locker and cocked the chamber. The Covenant were in for a hell of a fight.

_Hope you guys are looking forward to a couple of chapters of pure action._

_I know you guys have been waiting for them and here they come._

_"Thats 50 credits Ben."_

_SpartanHoplite_


	9. Are We Losing?

"We need to pull back from the advance trenches and strengthen the defense line along the first bunker line, here." I pointed towards a line on the map.

The cliff hung high over us as the holo-table had been brought outside. The sun was on the horizon threatening to rise. The darkness had become our friend, concealing our numbers, making us seem like a larger force. With the sun rising we would lose that advantage and then we would face a more fierce attacks.

"Sergeant!" Came I voice.

Myself and several other sergeants at the table turned our heads towards the entrance to the expansive trench line. A soldier came running, his equipment missing. "Which sergeant?" Asked an army sergeant at the other end of the table.

"I was told to report to Sergeant Drastly." The soldier replied.

I noticed a muddy medic band around his arm. Blood was under his nails and some blotches were on his shirt. "Aye, that's me."

"My commanding officer told me, to tell you, that a small group of elites had jumped the lines." The medic could be no older than 18 and the way he spoke confirmed that.

I suddenly tensed; there were the background noises of men gripping onto their guns tighter. "When was this?"

"About 20 minu…" The boy was lifted off his feet as an energy sword impaled his chest.

"Contact!" Screamed a marine.

I drew my pistol before being knocked down by another cloaked elite. I hit the floor hard as gunfire echoed under the cliff. I rolled onto my back and aimed my pistol at the same elite that had knocked me down. I pulled the trigger in rapid succession emptying the clip into the elite's body. The elite's cloak blew easily and the following shots finished it off.

"Fucking kill the cunts!" Yelled one of the marine officer's.

I got up and reloaded the M6C and stood up. The remaining sergeants and officers started to advance as they continued to fire their weapons. The squad of 6 elites was now down to 4. They were cornered between us and a small group of army soldiers who had set up in the trenches. One by one the elites fell barely being able to fire a return shot.

"Ceasefire!" Yelled an army officer.

The firing stopped and we heard the last of the bullet casings drop to the floor. Everyone was quiet as steam rose from the barrels of out guns. "Someone please take the poor boy's body inside." I said as I holstered my pistol.

The group began to disperse and the army soldiers in the trench went back to their small post 500 meters away.

I walked back to the holo-table and grabbed my MA5 and slung it around my back. "Mark! Eric! You're with me." I called out.

Two marine sergeants broke away from the main group and walked towards me. "Gather some of your men from the small outposts around here. We are moving down to support the main line."

"Sir." They both replied and jogged down into the trench.

I stood at the edge of the trench for several seconds my mind nowhere. I heard a loud bang and felt the ground shake a small bit. I snapped out of my trance and walked down into the trench.

Mark and his 4 men moved through the trench to me right while Eric and his 3 men were right behind me. We moved slowly through the trenches. There were bullet casings everywhere and small pieces of glass where the plasma weapons had connections with the soil. The frontlines were a mess. Several positions had fallen back as per orders but some men couldn't move or they just simply refused.

"Jasper Actual to Lion Den. Coming to t-intersection, proceeding forward to designated bunker." Came Mark's voice.

"Lion Den to Jasper Actual. Quick in an out, we need to form the defense line as quickly as possible. Take all ammunition and equipment with you." I replied.

There were two small bunkers in this area where marines and army soldiers were holding out against the rear elements of the Covenant. It was wreaking havoc with the Covenant numbers further up, but it was time to fall back and hold a stronger solid line.

"Coming up on target 1." I muttered through my mic.

I stopped next to a large metal door that had burn marks on it from Covenant forces trying to break through. The Covenant corpses on the ground told who had won. Eric walked around me and stood on the other side of the door. Through his marine helmet I could see his Asian complexion mixed with a bit of Caucasian. He had shaved his head so that his hair didn't irritate him when he had his helmet on. He was a good soldier.

"Prepare to breach." Said Eric.

One of the marines took a can labeled "C-7 foaming explosive. Handle with care." Out of his bag and moved towards the door. I held up my hand commanding him to stop, he complied.

I slammed the door hard with the but of my gun. "UNSC open up." I waited for 5 seconds and there was no response.

I nodded to the marine who then proceeded to spray the C-7 along the hinge side of the door. The marine placed a small piece of metal into the expanding foam. I slammed on the door again.

"UNSC, open up or we blow this door open!" I yelled.

I looked at the marine who nodded and handed me a detonator. I gripped it in my hand tight prepared to blow the door open. I lifted my thumb… "Wait!" Said the marine. "I hear something."

The same marine who had placed the explosives now neared the door again. He knelt down and put his ear to the massive door. "What is that sound?" He asked himself.

That sound was the Covenant. "Get back!" I yelled but I was too late. A needle went through a thin point in the door and straight through the marine's temple and out the other side. "John!" Screamed another marine.

I blew the door. It shot inside and I heard the squeal of the grunt shithead who got crushed underneath it. I nodded at Eric who had a concerned look on his face as he entered first. I followed inside as the dust from the explosion still hung in the air. I moved quickly shooting at the shadows. I heard squeals of pain from grunts as I riddled them with bullets. The shadows disappeared one by one.

"Clear!" I heard Eric.

"Clear!" Yelled a marine from the door.

"Clear!" I yelled.

There was no fourth clear. We only heard the sobs from outside. The dust was beginning to settle and I could see Eric now on the other side of the room. I nodded to him, he didn't respond.

I walked back out of the bunker. "This is Lion Den, I need a CASEVAC. One dead." I said through my radio.

I didn't look at the female marine who was sobbing over his body. But I noticed a flash from her finger, a ring. I now looked at the dead marine who had an identical ring made from Titanium A.

They were married. She couldn't have been 20 and he was barely 23. I turned away and started walking down the trench. "We can't stay here. We have to move on to the next objective." I told the group who were now all huddled around their friend. They glared at me.

The woman stood up, she had taken her helmet off. Her face was wet from tears and her hair was sticking to her face. She stormed towards me. I stood motionless.

"How dare you! Fucking cunt!" She screamed before launching a high kick into my chest. Her foot bounced off sending her to the floor.

"I had nothing to do with his death." I said plainly.

I wasn't feeling any emotion at all about the event. There was a human dead body, a man that I was next to only 5 minutes ago. I felt nothing. I felt alien.

"Drastly. We're waiting for the CASEVAC." Eric replied in turn.

It was as if he was trying to make me turn back and assign another squad to the mission. I didn't give in. "Then give me the cans of C-7. I'll get the men back myself."

The marine pushed herself up from the floor. She stood a solid 6 inches shorter than me. "I hope you die." She grunted before turning away and returning to her dead husband.

The other marine walked towards me with the remaining cans of C-7. I held out my hand to receive them, he dropped them at my feet. He then tried to stare me in the eyes but was visor was polarized. I nodded at him.

I bent down to pick up the cans and clipped them onto my waist. I turned from the group and walked away.

I heard a wiz above me. I looked up to see a purple blob fly over my head. I followed it down to where the marines were. "Eric!" I yelled. I sprinted back towards their position to see the ground charred black and the completely burnt bodies of 4 marines.

"Fucking hell!" I muttered to myself.

I walked past the bodies of what I think were the woman and the marine who dropped the C-7 cans over to Eric's body. I grabbed his dog tags. I then took the others dog tags but I didn't care for them as much.

"This is Jasper Actual. Bunker one is clear. Lots of dead Covenant and four marine casualties inside." Came Mark.

"This is Lion Den. Bunker one clear. Covenant waiting for us, no marines inside. All squad members dead. Over"

"Sorry could you repeat?"

"I'm the last one Mark. I'm pushing on to Bunker two alone."

I waited for the reply but none came. Mark knew what I was doing. I was completing the mission.

I started off at a brisk jog. The next bunker was 300 meters away.

I clipped the can onto my waist again now feeling lighter. The hinges had been sprayed with C-7 and were ready to blow.

I slammed on the door. "Open up! UNSC!"

There was no reply. I slammed again. "Open the fuck up or I will blow this fucking door open!"

I brought the detonator up and turned away from the door. I heard a click.

I dropped the detonator and raised my MA5 aimed at the door. "UNSC?" I asked.

"Si." Came the reply.

I lowered my gun slightly as a 17-year-old boy walked out of the bunker. Dried blood covered his face, human and alien. He had his gun raised like I did, but it had no magazine in it. He looked scared and tired, large pockets had formed under his eyes. His helmet had scorch marks across the top and his uniform was tattered.

"Easy now." I said my gun still ready.

He didn't close the door behind him; he was ready to jump back in.

"We need to fall back to the new frontline. Are you ok to walk?" I asked, now aware of a needle sticking in his leg.

He understood what I said and nodded. "I… need some… time… first." He told me.

The boy walked back inside leaving the door open. I decided to follow him in. I entered the bunker to see that the front of it had been blown wide open. There was a machine gun set up at the hole bullet casings surrounding the gun and blood from where wounds had been struck. I looked beyond the hole and saw the massive piles a Covenant. There must have been 200 to 300 bodies out there. Grunts, Jackals, Elites and even a pair of Hunters lay dead.

The boy was kneeling down next to 5 other men. They were all dead. Blood had pulled under some of the bodies. Their wounds clearly visible and also the attempts to cover the wounds. He remained there for several seconds before grabbing each of their dog tags and standing up.

"I'm ready." He told me.

I nodded and we headed out of the door. I took a step outside when a banshee screeched overhead. "Contact!" I yelled firing several rounds at the aircraft.

The boy went back inside and came back out with the M247 machine gun that had been set up in the bunker. The banshee was coming back around and we had nowhere to go. Stuck in the narrow trench we were heavily exposed.

We both took a knee while we aimed our weapons high into the sky. The banshee started to move faster towards us as we opened fire. Bullet casings fell on top of each other as we went through our whole entire clips. A lucky shot hit the banshee on the tip of its wing sending it into a spiral. We stopped firing and stood up. The banshee spiraled towards that ground before exploding in a purple ball of flames.

We didn't say anything. We just reloaded and started to walk.

"This is Lion Den. Bunker 2 clear. 1 survivor."

I waited for a reply from Mark and his squad but there was nothing. "Mark? Come in you fat fuck." I muttered into my mike.

We came to a t-intersection in the trenches. If we turned right we would be heading towards Mark but if we went forward we left them behind.

We heard non-human shouting coming from behind us. "Mark! If you can hear me, we can't provide support."

We broke off into a sprint as plasma seared over our heads. We passed by the first bunker. A CASEVAC had come and gotten the bodies of my former squad. Yet the blood was still pooled around where the bodies had once been.

I didn't stop to look back at the site as a green blob of plasma shot over my shoulder. In front of me the boy ran fast while carrying the large gun. He would make a good ODST.

"Make for the stairs! They will take us to the front lines!" I yelled.

He didn't reply.

My thighs started to hurt as my non-stop running took its toll. I could see the corner that would lead to the stairs. A plasma blob hit the boy in front of me. His leg started to burn away as he fell and screamed.

"Get up!" I yelled.

I grabbed him by his collar and dragged him up. He grunted with every step as he leg burnt. "Hang in there, mate!" I yelled as we turned the corner.

We began to climb the stairs when an elite jumped down into the trench, blocking our way into the massive bunker system. We stopped, our hearts stopped. The elite roared and raised his weapon. I closed my eyes.

Bang!

I heard the cocking sound of a shotgun and the hollow sound of the empty shell dropping to the ground. I opened my eyes to see Ben standing in full ODST body armour holding a shotgun.

"Does this make us even?" He asked.

I started laughing, both of joy that I was still alive and because of what Ben said. He was always joking around. Even now during a battle for our lives. I remembered that the boy was injured and nodded at Ben who opened the large metal door for me. I entered inside the massive underground complex.

We had dropped the boy off at one of the many hospitals that was built into the largest defense line on Harvest. The whole line was built under ground. There were trenches and bunkers above us as well but there were also heavy weapons positions built into the underground part of the base.

"So how did you end up on this side of the lake?" I asked Ben.

He was sitting looking out of a gun slit. His back was arched in a weird way from the prosthetic spine parts that he now had in his back.

"I swam." He told me.

"Where's your rifle? Or where is any rifle for that matter?" He asked me.

"ONI took it and told me not to snipe."

He grunted and brought up binoculars to his face. He seemed grimmer than before. I had heard that the other side of the lake was hit hard in the first hours of the attack. They had the full force of the Covenant before reinforcements moved in to form the backbone of their defense. The front bunkers had apparently been smashed and all their units had been broken. Out of 50 men in the front bunkers only 8 survived. Ben was obviously one of them.

"You met any ODST's yet? Maybe a couple joined the ranks of the marines that came in." I told Ben trying to lighten the mood.

He didn't reply. He just stared through his binoculars. He was motionless, not even scanning for targets. "I'm done Matthew." He told me. "I'm done with this war."

He turned to me. A tear was rolling down his face. "I've lost too many." He sobbed.

"You're the last one I care about Matthew… I just can't do this anymore." He wiped away the tear and pulled a straight face. "When we were attack on the other side of the lake. My squad at the time was a bunch of great guys; they were great soldiers as well. Max saved my life and gave up his own to stay back while I swam. I begged for him to follow but he just smiled and kept on firing." He slumped into a corner.

I sat in the corner opposite him. I didn't know what to do. He was on the verge of crying and I was being a terrible friend.

"Don't worry mate. They won't make it past here. This is where we stand; no more men we know are going to die. I know." I told him trying to act helpful.

Ben opened his mouth to say something before sirens started to wail. He closed his mouth and nodded at me. We grabbed our guns from the wall and headed to the stairs leading to the surface. We were greeted by a dark sky and a soft drizzle that looked like it was going to be turning into a massive storm.

We walked past 2 old variants of the M9 "Wolverine" Main Anti-Aircraft Tanks that the ONI base had just sitting around collecting dust. There were about a dozen of outdated mortars spaced around behind the large bunker network to provide support.

We headed for the entrance to the above ground part of the complex. The door was like every other door, huge and thick. The door opened automatically for us as we walked in. We had our helmets and our visors polarized. We entered a large room with a table in the middle. The table was covered in maps and diagrams of defensive structures.

"Sir." I said saluting the Major that was standing at the far end of the table.

The Major nodded. I knew who the major was before I walked in. Major Chang was a direct Earth born Luna academy taught general and tactician that had grown a reputation here of Harvest over the last couple of months. He had a stone cold look about him that sent chill down my spine.

"What are the reports saying sir?" I asked.

The room had gotten silent ever since us two ODST's entered.

"Full assault. We need you guys down on trench duty in front of the bunker line so the Covenant can't place explosives under us." He said bluntly.

We both nodded and turned away. Everyone was looking at us. "If any of you wankers want to join us we'll be outside." Ben told them before he left the room.

We walked across the bunker system and saw men preparing machine guns and turrets for the upcoming attack. There was a lot of yelling and the amount of ammo on the ground made it hard to walk without accidently stepping of a stray bullet.

We reached an ammo room, which had been extra reinforced so that a hit wouldn't blow the whole thing up.

I grabbed at pistol ammo and some more ammo for my MA5. I turned to walk out of the room when something caught my eye, a brand new SRS-99. The gun was polished and the barrel gleamed. I picked it up and weighed it in my hands. It was lighter than my usual SRS-98 but it still felt natural in my hands. I considered ONI and what they said to me. Fuck it. I took the gun and most of the ammunition from the storeroom and instead of following Ben down the stairs outside, I headed up stairs to the roof.

"Where the fuck are you going dipshit?" Ben yelled.

"I'm going to snipe." I told him not stopping.

I soon heard the banging of equipment as Ben came up the stairs after me. He himself was carrying a SRS-99 and large bag of ammo. He also had grabbed a range finder and other sniping equipment. He didn't look comfortable carrying the large rifle.

"Are you? Sniping?" I joked.

He stared at me hard as he fumbled around with carrying the rifle. "Shut the fuck up Drastly. I don't need your shit."

I started laughing as he dropping the rifle onto the floor with a loud clatter, which caused heads to turn. You couldn't see it, but he was probably blushing with embarrassment under his helmet. We were meant to be the elite of the marines. We were meant to be 1 to 100 against the Covenant and Ben couldn't even hold a rifle properly.

I didn't bother to help him as I turned away and started to laugh even harder as I headed for the roof.

"Fuck, it's cold up here." Complained Ben as he finally got to the roof.

I had already set up and I was lining up my mags up one by one so that it was easier to load.

"How many people asked if you were a fake ODST?" I chuckled.

"Shut the fuck up." He mumbled back to me.

I chuckled even more as he lay down a couple of meters next to me. The next couple of minutes were silent as we set up our position. We both made several trips down to grab extra ammo and some more sighting equipment. We even had the time to set up an automatic targeting system that was linked in with out helmets. Then we finally heard the sirens stop.

I lay motionless looking through a pair of binoculars out into the distance. Ben next to me was more restless and couldn't find a comfortable position to rest in. We had taken off most of our equipment so all the sound he made was a slight scruff from where his armour was scraping the roof.

The air grew stale as the men below us grew quite as well. We knew that they were coming straight for us. The debris from destroyed bunkers and up turned trees obscured our vision of the battlefield.

"Where are these cunts?" Mumbled Ben, while looking through his binoculars.

"Possible contacts front." We heard over the radio.

"We can't see anything from the roof. Can you confirm?" I asked.

I heard the high-pitched wiz of a needler rifle go past my head. "Confirmed contacts front. Snipers are in play." I said calmly over the radio.

I turned on my heat scan on my binoculars and found the hot barrel of the needler rifle. "Found first sniper." I adjusted my rifles scope. "Taking the first shot."

I placed my binoculars next to my rifle and took off my helmet. I rested my cheek on the but of the rifle while looking through the scope. I saw slight movements behind an upturned tree. I aimed for the bird looking head. I twitched my finger on the trigger and the recoil hit hard into my shoulder. The sound rung out while the bullet flew, not even a second later the bullet connected and purple blood flew into the air. "Target down."

I had a tally open on my visor. It automatically updated even though I wasn't wearing it.

There was a roar from the rest of the Jackals that were hiding and soon bodies started to pop up from out of cover. They made a fatal mistake. Soon the guns below us started to open fire and the Jackals fell one by one, their bodies riddled with bullets.

"Targets popping up everywhere!" I heard a soldier yell over the radio.

Soon there was a wave of Grunts running and firing at us. Then in the rear the main body of the elites started to push forward wielding plasma rifles and grenade launchers. Ben and I opened fire.

I felt recoil hit my shoulder and another bullet slide in. It was different from the bolt action 98 model that I was used to, but it did the job. Shell casing started to cover the ground next to my gun. My aim was the elites but I also took shots at Grunts that looked like they were making it too far. The machine gun fire from below never stopped with reloading taking a matter of seconds. Soon the mortars behind us started to fire.

"Don't worry about the Grunts. Leave the rookies some kills." I said to Ben over the public radio.

I heard chuckles across the channel as I tried to lighten the mood. I heard Ben swear next to me as he missed shot after shot. "Ben stop shooting for a while and call out targets for me." I told him trying to keep his cool.

I didn't see it but I know he nodded at me.

"700 meters. Elite, minor." He told me.

I saw the target and pulled the trigger. The Elites shield popped as the bullet went straight through and pierced its skull.

"Same distance. Minor. Aim more left."

I followed his spot and pulled the trigger to the same result.

"1500 meters. Major. Slight dip."

I aimed but more the right and fired and watched as the bullet curved slightly before hitting it's target square in the chest knocking it back onto a spike. It wasn't planned but it did the job and saved me an extra bullet.

Ben returned to sniping but now went for the closer Jackals and grunts.

My ears didn't have time to ring before the next shot. We were firing as fast as we could aim. The machine gunners down below seemed like they had infinite ammo cheat on, but the Covenant kept on making more ground.

"Any teams hit?" I asked over the radio.

"Minor injuries that are being treated but no casualties yet." Came the reply in a familiar voice.

The thick German accent was embedded into my brain. The Major was probably hovering above in his pelican prepared to hop on a ship and go back to Reach or Earth.

"I thought you might have fucked off by now Major." I joked.

I then heard the sound of gunfire through the radio. "Nah, I think I liked my days fighting insurgents more though."

"Are you on the ground Sir?" I asked.

He turned on his radio and let the sound of a machine gun firing fill the radio. I understood what he meant. He had realized that now, with so many soldiers dying regularly that sometimes the soldiers look down on their superiors.

"Good to have you with us Sir."

I continued to fire burning through my bullets quickly. Each bullet was made to count. Elites proved to be consuming as they took two to three shots if the bullet didn't strike them directly in the head. My shoulder began to ache as there was no rest from recoil.

"Matthew!" I heard Ben shout.

I didn't pay attention as I continued to fire my rifle at the Covenant watching bullet after bullet hit its target. I was getting in a nice rhythm, there was a 3 second delay between each of my shots and then I would fire at the closest Elite aimed at the head. I hadn't checked my count yet but I think I was nearing the 100 mark, and then I saw the grand prize, an Ultra.

"1300 meters out! Ultra! You fire first and then I follow on!" I yelled to Ben over the sound of machine gun fire.

There was no response from him. There was no bullet fired or anything. I turned my head to see that he had disappeared. His gun was still there and a fresh round was in the chamber. "Ben?!" I shouted.

I stood up from my position. My muscles ached from lying in the same place for around 20 minutes now. My shoulder hurt and I was sure that there was a massive bruise where the but of my gun had hit it many times. "Ben!" I shouted again.

I grabbed my MA5 from its place on the roof and walked around. The harsh wind cut into my unprotected face. I looked around frantically, as I couldn't find him. I dropped to a knee and protected my face from the rain that was now dropping on me. It whipped into my face blinding me as I went back for my helmet. The winds were picking up. The machine gun fire hadn't stopped and neither had the Covenant assault.

"Fuck." I whispered to my self as I finally got my helmet back on.

My cold face stung as the climate-controlled suit quickly warmed it up. I noticed my kill count that put me at 106 elite kills. I smiled to my self up until I got a warning from my suit.

"Proximity warning." The calm voice sounded in my helmet.

I looked up to see a blob of plasma arching through the air. I watched as it hit the roof behind me. The blast threw me off the roof into the land between the never stopping machine guns and the charging Covenant. I slammed onto a log and bounced onto a log. My ribs hurt from when I hit the log. My gun was off to my side. I tried to lift myself from my position but a foot slammed into my back.

"Fuck!" I yelled as my ribs were pressed into the ground.

The foot lifted off me and I turned onto my back to see a Ranger standing over me. "Sorry mate!" He exclaimed.


	10. Leaving for New Beginnings

I woke. This was happening too often that I was passing out and waking up in unknown locations. Yet now something was different, the air and space around _me felt different. I opened my eyes. I was in a metal room. Gravity felt week. I_ was in space. This was my first time in a ships medical bay and I didn't like it.

I lifted my head to have a look at my body. I chocked slightly as I couldn't see anything past the bulges on my chest. I turned my head frantically. I noticed x-rays on the wall and saw that all my ribs were broken and I had a punctured lung and there was words written out on the board about my further injuries. I didn't dare read it.

"Doc! Doc!" I shouted.

I waited a minute or two before a nurse came around and look at my chest with wide eyes before pressing something on the machine. I knew what it was. They were putting me out. "Don't worry honey. We're starting surgery soon." She said calmly.

"Did any other ODST's make it?" I asked.

The nurse smiled awkwardly. "There was one that came aboard with you. He is in surgery now. I'm sure he'll be fine."

Taking another look at my chest the nurse cringed and quickly walked away as I slipped into a deep sleep.

* * *

January 21st, 2531

_I have decided to write down the date from now on in this journal so when I read back in the future I remember what happened_

Sargent Matthew Drastly

I didn't wake again until after the surgery. They had moved my ribs back into place and added some type of metal in between my ribs to replace the parts that they had to take out. My lung was re-inflated or something the doctors didn't give me a full re-cap but they told me enough to know that my injuries were pretty bad. During surgery they had done something to my calf where the plasma had burned through and now the skin and muscle had begun to grow back extremely fast.

I was told by a naval officer to report to my CO. I had no idea where Ferdinand or the rest of my squad was. I had asked the nurse after my surgery in Ben had finished his surgery but apparently he needed several surgeries. So I wandered the halls asking people if they knew where Ferdinand or the rest of my squad was. I had been walking around for several hours when I realized I could go ask Prøg who was down on the armory deck. I took the longest route I could find; just to explore the ship a bit. I found my way to the elevator, which took we down to the armory. It took about 30 seconds to reach the bottom and I walked out to immediately see Prøg sitting in a seat reading his holopad. His face was tired and grim.

"Tough fight I'm guessing?" I joked as I walked towards him.

He looked up and nodded. There was something in his eye, a tear. Prøg looked like the man that would never cry, he was too tough but something had happened.

"You ok mate? Did the ship take some hard it on its personal?" I asked.

He lowered his holopad. "You don't know yet do you? Huh, they kept you in the dark. Typical UNSC."

"Wait what are you talking about?" I asked.

He placed his holopad on the table next to him and stood up. "Come with me. I need to show you something."

He walked towards the elevator. I followed him still confused. Maybe he wanted to show me one of the friends that he had lost. Maybe it was the Captain; I knew that everyone on the ship was close to the Captain to a certain extent. He could have had a wife. Maybe it was a piece of equipment that had been destroyed. Did he have family on Harvest and that area had been glassed.

All this time thinking had taken me away from walking. I had followed Prøg all the way to Hanger A on the starboard side of the ship. I was deep in though when he tapped me on the shoulder as we stood on a viewing platform above the hangar. Massive claws held the few pelicans that were left on the ship above. Each of them had burn marks and holes from the battles.

"Down there." Prøg muttered to me.

I looked down at the hangar floor and saw that it had been turned into a massive casualty bay. There were hundreds of bodies down there. They were all cleaned u and put back into a clean set of military overalls. I looked around and spotted what Prøg had been talking about. In the far corner were the ODST casualties. Their bodies hadn't been cleaned like the others and they were still wearing the armour that they were when they died. Only two ODSTs were still standing paying respect to their fallen friends.

"Hanger B has the same amount of dead on her deck." Prøg told me.

I gulped. I didn't recognize either of them. I walked down the stairs to the deck level.

"Wait." Prøg tried to pull me back.

I shrugged him off as I moved in-between the bodies of dead marines. Marines moved out of my way as I limped towards the bodies of my squad mates. I could see Ferdinand from where I was already standing. The side of his face was charred black and there was dried blood in his hair. All the bodies of the ODSTs had their helmets placed on their chests. I spotted Arthur, I moved next to his body. His face was scratched and had specks of mud all over it. There was a hole in his chest, Covenant snipers. I patted his helmet in respect, I didn't feel much as I had only fought with him once and had never really talked to him that much.

A naval officer bumped into me. She was much smaller than me and I could see that she had been crying. "Sorry miss." I said. She looked up at me and I could see that she recognized me.

She sniffled a bit. "You're Arthur's friend that walked in on us, yes?" She asked with no accent in particular.

I now realized that this was Arthur's naval girlfriend. They had obviously been together longer than I had realized. "Yea. I'm sorry that we didn't bring Arthur back home all right."

She nodded and we stood side-by-side just looking at his body. I kept a straight face as she burst out into tears and clutched onto me. I tried to comfort her by bringing her in close, but it felt like the last time I held Yamine.

"It's ok, it's ok." I told her.

I slowly got out of the hug and moved away. I was going through me memories of Yamine. The times we had spent together. She was the one that got me out of the drug running gangs. She helped me with so much, paying bills, paying for bail. Then before I could get down on one knee, she… I chocked and tears were forming in my eyes.

Then I saw Ben. His body was being carried in by two mechanics.

"Ben!" I yelled.

They placed his body down on the empty bed. I rushed to his side. His armour had been put back on and I saw the burn marks from multiple shots to his chest. So that's why he called me during the battle. I felt so selfish, not checking why he called. I crouched down at the side of his bed. Ben, the only soldier I was close to was now dead. I touched his hand it was cold and stiff.

"Come on Ben. Don't do this." I whispered.

I stood up and wiped away a tear from my eye. "Goddamnit Ben! I yelled.

I smacked his armour. The whole room went silent as they turned to face me. I didn't care what they thought. I reached for his neck and grabbed his dog tags. I tugged at them and they came off. I sniffled back another tear. I stood up straight saluted and stayed like that for longer than was usual.

"I'm sorry son." I voice said behind me.

I dropped my salute and turned around to face Lieutenant Obergon. He was unscathed, not a scratch on him. It would be understandable if he was part of the ship's crew but he was a marine like most of the men on board.

"What would you know?" I grunted before bumping past him.

I returned to the naval officer that was still crying over Arthur's body. I embraced her in a hug again. "It's going to be alright. We'll take him home." I told her. She nodded and I let go of her. I bent over Arthur's body and grabbed his dog tags. I then past by every single member of my team and grabbed their dog tags. I stood by Vladimir's body longer than the others to pay my respects. I past by June's body, she was the 6th member of my squad. She had been deployed with the other ODST squad on board because her drop pod wasn't working at the time. I had never talked to her. She probably had the quickest death, a bashed in skull. I saluted quickly and took her dog tags.

"We need to talk Drastly." Obergon told me.

I turned around and walked up close to him. He was a solid 6 inches shorter than me and I used it to my advantage. "I have just lost the only people on this ship that I actually had a friendship with! And you expect me to come and talk with you after seeing their dead bodies!" I yelled.

I stormed off away from the Lieutenant. As I quickly moved in-between the dead marines people moved aside so they didn't get shoved to the ground.

I returned to my room. I went straight to Vladimir's locker and grabbed one of the bottles of vodka that sat at the bottom of it. Opening the cap I got a whiff of the extremely strong vodka. The label "_9 Russians_" was a very expensive brand of vodka and probably the best. On Levosia the cost on average 1000 credits a bottle. Vladimir had 6 bottles sitting at the bottom of his locker.

"Here's to the team." I said to my self.

I took a massive swig of the vodka. Just managing to swallow the drink I coughed at how strong it was. I sat down on my bed and took another swig. I could feel the alcohol already affecting me. There was a knock at the door.

"Fuck off. It's not the time." I said.

Still the door opened. "That's not the way to treat your Captain."

I looked up and saw that the Captain was in the room. I didn't give two shits. "What do you want?" I asked. "You want to punish me? Well good luck finding anything to take away from me."

The Captain took the bottle of vodka from my hand. "You know drinking on the ship is against regulation?" The Captain to a large swig from the bottle.

"Damn that 9 Russians stuff is good. Where'd you get it?"

I pointed at Vladimir's locker. The Captain nodded taking another swig and handing it back to me.

Coughing from the vodka the Captain said: "Look we all lose friends." He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "You lost more than most people. This was also your first ever team, which makes losing them even worse. But you have to get over it." The Captain took out a flask from his breast pocket and took a short swig. "Damn this stuff is good." He offered the flask.

"No thanks cap. I'm good."

"Suit yourself." The Captain took another swig and put it back in his breast pocket.

"Look here. We have all lost people. You are now the most experienced ODST on the ship. Those other two ODST are transferring to some program on Reach, ONI wouldn't give me details. So you are the most badass motherfucker on the ship right now. You are the most dangerous person on the ship with the most kills. 273 kills with 4 ultras, that is something to be proud of. This also makes you one of the most dangerous ODSTs ever. Let that sink in." The Captain stood up.

"You want my advice. Make a name for yourself. That's how you survive in this war. Let people know how many kills you have. Tell your battle stories. Then during battles when you are in deep shit there will be people who will take the time to dig you out of that shit. Make yourself a legend."

The Captain nodded at me and left the room closer the door behind him. I had taken everything he had told me, but right now I couldn't find a fuck to give. I took a sip from the vodka bottle and spread out on my bed.

* * *

_January__ 29th, 2531_

My dress uniform was uncomfortable as it was tight in places that should be loose. The ODST emblem on my shoulders made me proud to wear it but also sad. The first time that I was wearing my dress uniform, I was hoping it would be at an award ceremony but instead I was paying respects to a friend.

I was walking down the nicely lit street of Pilvros. I had gone AWOL while on leave to come to New Carthage. Although I made sure that I would be back in time for the end of leave and I had paid a bartender to tell anybody that came looking for me that I was somewhere in the city back on Reach.

"Excuse me." I asked a pedestrian.

"Yes?" He answered rudely.

I didn't respond to how rude he answered me. I just needed to know where I could find Overgrod Road.

"Could you possibly tell me where Overgrod Road is?" I asked as politely as a 6ft 4 ODST could.

"I could, but it's going to cost you." The man reply rubbing his fingers together.

"Fuck head." I said to the man as I turned away.

"Yea fuck you too. Ya fucking tourist." He called out.

This war seemed to be taking the toll on everyone. Not only physically but mentally. People were now more paranoid. I had seen people looking up at the sky trying to see if any Covenant ships had shown up. People were rarely using the space elevators anymore, relying more on more expensive ship transport to take them into orbit. Space elevators have often been completely wrecked during Covenant attacks killing the people inside the elevator. But I was on New Carthage for 2 people only.

Ben's words echoed in my head. "1563 Overgrod Road."

"Tell my daughter that I'm fighting for her and daddy will be home soon. To my wife… Tell her I'll be missing dinner." That is what Ben told me.

I continued walking down the road. People that I passed moved to the other side of the road at the sight of my military dress uniform. New Carthage was a huge supporter of the UNSC and the war effort, but seeing military personal still made them uncomfortable.

"Mrs. Huntington!" I heard someone call.

I looked over the road to see a lady entering an apartment building. She had stopped to respond to the person that had called her. The area I was currently in was poor and that was shown by the condition of the streets and the people walking them.

"Kyle. What do you want now?" The woman asked obviously annoyed.

"Well you know how we had a thing back in High School."

"Kyle. Just stop. I don't need any of your shit right now."

"No, no. Just hear me out."

"Kyle! My husband is off at war. A war where the chances of dying are very high! I don't need to worry about your shit right now!" She screamed.

The man still tried to push. He now put one of his hands on her waist and the other on the door, closing it.

"Exactly. Your husband is off at war. You know, you must be getting restless not having much action for so long. I could keep watch over you and Sarah for a while, you know while Ben is off saving us and all." He forced the woman closer to him.

I saw that this was getting out of hand and crossed the street, walking towards them.

"Just fuck off Kyle. I didn't want you in High School! I don't want you now!" She screamed.

Kyle went in for the kiss, forcing the woman closer to him. Trying to fight Kyle off the woman bit his lip and slapped his face with her free hand.

"Fucking bitch!" Kyle screamed.

Kyle raised his hand to smack the woman. I caught his hand in mid air and twisted is wrist until I heard a satisfying snap. Kyle yelped out in pain. He let go off the woman's waist and fell onto one knee.

"Is that how you treat women?" I yelled at the man.

I let go of his wrist and looked down at him. He looked up and tears were streaming down his face. He lunged at me with his good hand hitting me in the chest. I took a step back from the hit, it wasn't very hard but it took me by surprise.

"This woman's husband is ten times the man you are. He served to protect us!" I grabbed his other hand and twisted it around his back into an arm lock.

"What do you do? You stay on a planet protected by better men than you. You prey on those that you are stronger than! Here is what I think of you." I spat with venom.

I pushed his arm up and heard a pop. His shoulder dislocated from the socket. I let Kyle fall to the ground. He tried to stand up and fight me, but when he looked up at my angry face full of hatred, he turned away and ran down the street holding his swinging shoulder with his broken wrist.

I turned around and faced the woman who was dumbstruck by what had just happened.

"Sorry Miss. There was no need for violence." I apologized.

She didn't acknowledge my apology. She just stared at me.

"What… What yo… said? He 'served'… What did you mean by that?" She asked me.

I looked down at the ground not answering as yet. She looked around and saw the ODST patch on my shoulder. Her reaction was one I wanted to forget, but I knew I never would. I took out Ben's dog tags from my chest pocket.

She lent back against the wall behind her and started to slide down.

"No! No! No!" She cried. "It can't be true! Please!" She cried again. "Please tell me you're lying! Please!" Tears streaked down her face.

"Mummy!" A girl came out of the apartment building.

She looked older than she was 2 but then again with todays nutrition kids are growing taller by the minute.

"Mummy! Are you ok mummy?" The girl asked.

"Yes honey, everything is ok." The mother replied giving the girl a reassuring smile.

"Then why are you boo boo mummy?" The girl asked pointing at her mother's tears.

I sadly chuckled, as I bent my knees so I was at the level of the girl. "Hey there." I said.

"Hi." The girl replied grabbing onto her mother's shirt, keeping her distance from me.

"I'm a friend of your dad." I told her.

The girl now became more relaxed and let go of her mother's shirt. She still kept her distance from me though. I smiled at her, but the smile didn't feel right.

"Your daddy wanted me to tell you something very important." I almost choked on my words as a lump gathered in my throat.

"You play with daddy?" The girl asked oblivious of what was going on.

A tear formed at my corner of my eye. "Your daddy wanted me to tell you that he loves you very very much." I choked on my words and bent my head to hide my tears. "He is playing very hard. He wants to see you so much. He promises to be home as soon as he can." Tears were now falling from my face.

"So daddy isn't home to play with me yet?" The girl asked disappointed.

I shook my head. "No, no. Not yet, soon though." I extended my arm holding out the dog tags. "He wanted me to give you and your mummy this."

The girl looked at her weeping mother for permission to take the dog tags. The mother nodded brushing her daughter's hair back. The girl took a couple of cautious steps towards me. I handed her the dog tags. She took the quickly and retreated to the safety of her mother.

"Now wh… What do you say sweetheart?" Said the mother.

"Thank you sir." The girl said shyly.

I smiled at the girl again. She giggled a bit and turned away from shyness.

"Honey, why don't you go upstairs and get your dolls ready." The mother told the girl. "I'll come up and play with you in a bit. Ok darling?"

"Ok mummy!" The girl exclaimed.

"Good girl." The mother kissed the girl on the forehead.

The daughter now ran back inside and up the stairs.

I stood up and walked over to the women and offered my hand to help her up. She nodded accepting and grabbed my hand. We both had tears strolling down our faces. We looked at each other for a couple of seconds.

"Thank you. For… coming and telling us." She said.

"He asked me to miss. He told me to come here if…" I choked. "If anything happened."

"Please call me Irene." She muttered. "Well, thank you for coming and not sending one of those men who doesn't really care." She told me. "That's what I meant."

"It was my duty. To him." I said.

She nodded and sniffled. I stood up straight and saluted her. She smiled at me tears still running down her face.

"Thank you again. For what you have done."

I nodded and gave a weak smile back. I turned away and took a step away. Irene wiped away a tear and prepared to go upstairs to her daughter.

"Oh, I almost forgot." I said.

I took a card out of my pocket and turned around. Irene was standing there, a fresh set of tear were rolling down her cheeks.

"This is for your daughter." I handed the card to her. "I set up a savings account for her. I don't have family and I don't really spend my pay at all. So I thought I could use it for good." I said awkwardly.

Irene looked at the card awestruck. This was like gold to her. She was crying of sadness but also happiness at the same time. She looked at me and gave me a genuine smile and hugged me.

"Thank you so much!" She exclaimed.

I accepted the hug by only gave her a slight pat on the back as a response.

"And also if anyone bothers you like that guy Kyle. Just give me a call and the next time I get leave I'll come straight here." I told her turning away.

She nodded and looked at the card again. "Thank you …" She implied to know my name.

"Matthew." I told her. "Matthew Drastly."

* * *

January 30th, 2531

I sat at in the marine bar that had been recommended to me by a marine back on the _Hummingbird_. It was in a quite area of commercial buildings and shops, so there wasn't any complaints from residents about noise. When I walked in I was quickly questioned because I was a new comer to the bar. The questions were simple but the marines got the point that I wasn't in the mood for conversation.

I gestured to the bartender for another beer. He nodded and grabbed one out of the fridge with his prosthetic arm. He had told some marines earlier on what happened but I wasn't really paying attention.

The bartender replaced my beer and I took out my card but he shook his head. "You look like you need the beer son." I nodded in appreciation.

I had the remaining dog tags in my jacket pocket and I had them all gripped tight. The memories I had made with Vlad and Ben came back to me as I took another sip from my beer.

"Hell Jumper!" A drunken marine called.

I turned my head to see if he was talking to me.

"Yea you shitface." He said pointing at me.

I turned away and returned to my beer. I didn't have the time for this little shit.

"Hey! Show some respect shitface!" The marine yelled.

The rest of the bar went quite as the marine came up behind me. I could feel his breath on my hair. I took another sip from my beer. Then came a smack over the ear from the marine. I shoved my barstool back into the marine who stumbled as I stood up.

"James?" I asked as I saw the marine's face.

"Yea, what of it shitface?"

"It's me Matthew." I felt a bit happier now that I had seen my old friend again. At least I had one friend alive.

"Ahh yea mate! I remember when you got dragged away." He laughed.

"Hahaha yea so how you been man." I asked giving he a friendly slap on the shoulder.

He looked at me like I had just shot him.

"How dare you slap me!" He roared.

"Mate, it was just a friendly slap on the shoulder." I tried to calm the situation.

"I am a veteran marine! I have fought for the UNSC and for your dumb ass."

"Excuse you?" I asked now getting annoyed.

"Yea, I see under your fake persona. ONI took you away so you couldn't have been an ODST. You are just a little stinking ONI piece of shit!" James accused.

I took my hand out of my jacket pocket and shoved James against the wall. I held the dog tags in front of his face.

"Does this look like I am a fucking ONI piece of shit!" I screamed in his face.

"What battle did you participate in anyway?" Asked another marine.

"Groombridge." James replied still pinned against the wall.

The room filled with dry laughs and coughing. The bartender stopped cleaning glasses and gave James a death stare.

"Groombridge was a naval only battle." A marine stated.

"Yes, but still I am a veteran and I deserve respect!" James shouted trying to free himself from me.

"Have you even fired a shot James?" I asked him trying to make him feel guilty.

James didn't reply and only looked at the ground. I smashed his face with the dog tags.

"I asked you a question!" I yelled.

"No."

"Hell Jumper. Get him out of my bar." The bartender grunted.

The other marines in the bar cheered as I picked him up by the collar and carried him out of the bar. I dropped him on the side of the street. There was blood coming from his nose. I turned to go back inside, but I needed to ask one more question.

I bent down to where James was sitting against the wall. "What the fuck happened to you? Just think about that before talking to me again James." I told him before going back into the bar.

The rest of the night was slow. The bartender gave everyone a free round because of what happened. A few of the other marines bought me a drink, which lasted me to the end of the night before I stumbled back to the cheap motel room that I had rented out.

I lay on my bed and asked my self a question. "Is this what is going to become of leave time? Drinking and cheap motel rooms alone?"

I didn't have time to think about it before I fell asleep.

* * *

February 2nd, 2531

"Welcome aboard ladies! I hope your hangovers aren't too bad because we got shit tons of ammo and equipment to move while we are in transit." Prøg greeted us as we got off the pelican.

The other marines behind me groaned. I didn't care because I knew how to get out of carrying shit around. I was going to spend my time at the shooting range just putting as many rounds down range as I could.

The marines around me were all replacements. You could tell who was a replacement and who had served before. The replacements seemed to be happier than the marines and naval crew who had served before.

As I walked down the corridors I received nods and marines stood aside for me to pass. Unlike before where I was someone new, a replacement. I turned into my room. The door hit my bed and bounced off. I was ready this time and had my hand up to protect my shoulder. My rifle was right where I left it. I had two boxes of ammo at the bottom of my locker; one filled with 14.5mm rounds while the other was filled with 16.5mm rounds.

"Hey did you here that one of the ODSTs on board has 273 kills and 4 ultra kills." I heard two marine walk by.

So I was making a name for myself whether I liked it or not. The Captain was right; maybe I should use it to my advantage. I should make some friends with the pelican pilots so that I could call in some help when I need it.

I took off my bag. I had spent my extra credits on some new scopes for my sniper and I had gotten some explosive rounds made for my 98. I got everything at 75% off because I was with the UNSC and because I was an ODST.

I didn't want to meet my replacements. Right now I didn't want to look into the eyes of some kid, who's family I would be visiting on my next leave. I had promised myself to look after Ben's family. I was going to send gifts to them every time I was on leave and I was going to make some friends in the police so that they could watch their house.

"Sergeant. Can we have a word?"

I turned my head and saw Lieutenant Obergon standing at the door. I had a small hatred for him. He was marine, but part of the non-combat unit. He was the ODST organizer as people called him.

I closed my locker and made sure that I had placed my lock tight on it. I had taken the remaining bottles of _9 Russians _from Vlad's locker and the 2 remaining Sweet Williams Cigars that were in Ferdinand's locker. So right now I had the most expensive locker on the ship.

I took a step outside and closed the door behind me.

"What do you need Lieutenant?" I grunted showing my disliking to the Lieutenant.

The Lieutenant scratched his head. "Look Matt we…"

"Don't ever call me Matt again." I grunted with a degree of hostility.

"Matthew." He corrected. "We got off on a bad start. I can tell you don't like those men who are in charge of troops but never take part in battle. Anyone can tell that, but on this ship I am your superior and that will have to be respected."

I coughed at his last comment.

"Excuse me." An ODST said to me trying to get into the room.

I raised my hand to stop him. He saw that I wasn't just another replacement and waited for me to finish.

"Look Lieutenant. You can tell me all the jack you want, but when I'm down on the field and you are giving me orders. I choose to follow them or no. You control me up until my pod leaves the ship. That is all I'm agreeing to." I finished.

I turned to the ODST and nodded acknowledging him before moving past the Lieutenant and shoved him aside. I heard behind me as the Lieutenant greeted the new arrival. The little shit.

I headed for the bridge. I felt like I need a casual talk with the Captain. The elevator quickly took me to bridge level and I walked onto the small bridge. Seeing as we were a Charon-class Frigate it didn't surprise me.

"Captain." I said saluting.

"Hey Drastly." Captain Howard replied casually.

I walked up the steps next to the Captains chair to where the Captain was spinning around.

"What's up Drastly?" He asked.

The Captain stopped spinning and turned the chair to face me.

"I was just thinking about what you told me. About how I should extend my fame."

"Yea and? Did it get you bitches?"

I chuckled. "No, no. Not yet. But I noticed that men who push for fame get pushed back down. But those who don't care get the most."

The Captain gave me a stern look. "Don't tell me you are going all philosopher bullshit on me."

We both started laughing. The Captain sure knew how to be a good joker.

"Well. Shit. I got nothing to comeback against that." I replied.

"That basically means you're fucked." He joked.

We laughed a bit more before I left. I still had a smile on my face as I took the elevator back down to living quarters. I decided now was a good time to go talk to the pilots. That chat with the Captain changed my mood around completely.

"Matthew!" I heard someone call.

I turned around to see Arthur's ex-girlfriend behind me. I stopped and turned around a smile still on my face.

"Hey!" I called back.

She walked towards me and I opened up my arms to hug her. She accepted the embrace and we hugged for a solid amount of time. "You better?" I asked.

"A bit. But sometimes I can still see him." She replied.

She pulled herself closer to my body and put her ear to my chest. It was starting to feel weird but at the same time it felt nice to embrace someone for a long period of time.

"You know. I never caught your name." I told her.

"Mackey."

I burst out laughing and fell to the floor.

"What's so funny about my name?"

I tried to respond but I was laughing too hard. I came to a stop when my stomach started to hurt. I stood up before saying. "Hey Mackey, are we having Mac and Cheese for lunch?" I joked.

She threw a playful punch and my chest. "Stop it." She chuckled.

I stopped and looked her in the eyes. I felt attracted to her. It felt wrong feeling attracted to the girlfriend of your dead friend. Although I never really got to become friendly with him though.

We were still looking each other in the eyes when the speaker sounded. "Sergeant Drastly, please stop trying to take my naval technicians away from me, and get to your cryo-tube."

Mackey and I both laughed at the announcement made by the Captain before silently saying our farewells and heading off to our cryo-tubes.

I finally felt like I belonged on this ship. I was one of the crew now. Hopefully this was a new beginning.

_Hey guys, I got some more action next chapter and possible relationships._

_Hope you guys have enjoyed so far!_

_Cheers_

_SpartanHoplite_


	11. Back to Work

_February 3__rd__, 2531 _

The dark cold cryo-tube surrounded me. I had a foul taste in my mouth from the cryo fluid that we had to take before freezing. I heard the hiss of the releasing air, as my cryo-tube opened. I stepped out of the cryo-tube and coughed up the fluid letting it go through the drainage on the floor.

"Fucking hell that's nasty." I coughed.

The few naval technicians that had to stay awake for most of the trip grunted and went to wake the others from cryo. I shrugged back at their rudeness and walked over to my locker. I didn't really realize that I was completely naked until I had to put my underwear on.

"Damn cryo." I muttered.

Putting my underwear on I grabbed my trackies that I had been wearing before cryo and put them on. I started to scratch my arms from the dryness of cryo. I put on my shirt, which started to irritate my skin. Grumbling I took off my shirt and left the cryo room.

Walking down the corridors I saw marines and naval moving along, their skin was pale from cryo and I could see that they were all still getting over the sleepiness that cryo causes. I passed them as I headed back to my room. I got on one of the lifts that took me to the living quarters. I sat their in the lift thinking about how things might have turned out differently if I hadn't shot myself in the shoulder. How would my life be now? I heard a ting and the lift doors opened. I wasn't at the floor I wanted to be at.

"What now?" I muttered to myself.

I lent forward and pressed the deck 5 button and the doors started to close again.

"Wait!" I heard someone yell.

I moved forward, shooting my hand in-between the closing doors. The doors sensing the hand now opened again. Jogging down the hallway was Lieutenant Hughes. I stepped back as she got into the elevator.

"Ma'am." I said.

The Lieutenant nodded. She pressed one of the buttons and the doors closed finally. The Lieutenant now looked up and saw me. She stared at my chest and abs for a while before looking up at my face.

"Oh!" She exclaimed realizing who it was. "Well Hell Jumper, I think I deserved a good stare after what you have seen."

I coughed when I thought of the memory. It was so nice. Everything was the right size, and nothing was hanging wrong. It was the perfect body.

"What have you seen Sergeant Drastly?" A voice asked.

The voice wasn't the Lieutenant's as she was looking around for it as well.

"Ah, I see. I haven't introduced myself to either of you." The voice said again. "I am Upsir, the ship's AI."

A small blue body appeared in front of us. The body was dressed in ancient plate armour, but was missing a helmet. He stood up straight and looked at us. This was the AI that I was told about.

"So? What have you seen?" Upsir asked me.

The AI cocked its head like a dog. It stared at me in a kinda uncomfortable way.

"Nothing, nothing. It was just something on the battlefield." I lied.

The AI started to laugh. "I can tell you are lying Sergeant. Don't try and fool me, I am a smart AI. A very smart AI." Upsir chuckled. "So tell me Sergeant? What did you see?"

"If you were so smart you could tell. Do the calculations or something." I told the AI.

"I find that quite offensive." Upsir gasped. "Just because I am an AI I do equations? That is a very offensive stereotype."

The Lieutenant started to laugh. Upsir looked at the Lieutenant and smiled. "At least someone gets my humour."

I chuckled a bit before stopping to scratch my chest. Lieutenant Hughes looked at my body again and bit her lip.

"You can look but you can't touch." I joked.

Her face went to a slightly sad look, but then she realized I was joking and a smirk appeared on her face.

"Ohhhhhh, now I get it." Upsir interrupted. "You two are very sexually attracted to each other. How did one of the crewmembers say it again? Ah yes, you two want to fuck." Upsir said proudly.

The Lieutenant and I were both glaring at the AI. Upsir was still proud with himself for figuring out human behavior. The AI realized something was wrong and looked down again at us. He saw our glaring eyes and gestured a step back as if he was human.

"What? Was there something that I said?" The AI asked.

"Just don't Upsir. Just don't try and understand this type of human behavior." The Lieutenant grunted.

"I'm sorry Lieutenant. I have obviously angered you and the Sergeant here. Now excuse me we are coming out of slip space and I am needed on the bridge." Upsir quickly said escaping getting yelled at.

It was funny how a ship AI acted so much like a human but knew nothing about human nature. Well that didn't matter now because the Lieutenant was once again staring at my chest. I knew that Mackey had a thing for me and I didn't want to mess it up with her. She was a nice girl that I could have a conversation with. The Lieutenant on the other hand was more of a fuck relationship and that was it. I mean, who doesn't like fucking, but I still felt that if I was going to be in a relationship it might as well be with Mackey.

"You know Hell Jumper. I might just take you up on that drink." She winked as the lift shuddered to a stop and the doors opened. "Let's say your room, 2 hours." She turned to leave the lift. "Oh and, keep the shirt off. It looks nice."

The doors closed as I stared at the Lieutenant's ass while she walked away. The doors finally closed and I let out my breath. That ass was nice, real nice.

"You know, I have never understood why humans stare at each other's ass. I mean you shit out of it." Upsir appeared next to me.

I turned my head and smirked. "Fucking little bastard."

Upsir had to go off and organize our jump into Harvest. It didn't take long for the lift to get to deck 5. I got off and went to my room. I passed by several other zombie like marines and naval techs who were going to their rooms for showers.

I opened my door and saw that the replacements had already been in. There were clothes thrown all around the room. My helmet was sitting on a hook on the wall, it was sitting nicely and I could clearly see the small kill marks on the side. The cut on the lip over and under my visor, which was made by an energy sword was clearly visible. I smiled at it.

I checked the clock on the wall and saw that I only had an hour and a half before I was going to probably bang Lieutenant Hughes. I took off my pants and went into the bathroom. I looked at the wall where Arthur was with Mackey. I chuckled when I remembered Arthur, well the small memories that I had.

I quickly showered giving my itchy skin relief. I washed my dry hair; it had grown over my first Harvest campaign and then over my leave. It was now long and thick, dropping down on my face. I need something to hold it back.

I got out of the shower and dried off. I looked at myself in the mirror. My body was toned, but there were scars. My shoulder had a healed over hole. I couldn't see it in the mirror but I knew that I had a massive scar on my calf. Internally I didn't have as many scars as I thought I would have after the death of my squad. I had gotten over June, Arthur, Ferdinand pretty quickly. I had taken longer to get over Vladimir and took a very long times to come to terms with Ben's death. Now here I was, ready to go back to Harvest with a new squad.

"Knock, knock!" I heard someone yell from the door.

I poked my head out of the bathroom door. I looked at Lieutenant Obergon who was standing at the door. I scowled. Returning into the bathroom I wrapped my towel around my waist.

"Sir. What can I do for you?" I grunted.

The Lieutenant knew not to piss me off. The ship didn't follow normal protocol in terms of court martialing. I could bash his face in and the Captain wouldn't do anything.

"Uh, as a matter of fact I was just hoping that you would have a chat with all the ODSTs before they drop. Not now, but later, when we return to the surface." The Lieutenant told me.

"Yea I'll chat with them." I said. "What the hell did you mean by we? You fucking stay on this ship don't you marine?" I grunted.

The Lieutenant knew that he had said something wrong. Quickly he turned away and retreated back down the corridor. I shook my head and returned inside. I didn't go far to get to my locker. I opened the massive lock on it and grabbed a half empty bottle of vodka and a Sweet Williams Cigar. Closing the door, I lay down on my bed.

I lit the cigar and opened the bottle of vodka. I took a puff from the cigar and blew it out slowly letting the smoke cloud around my face. Taking a swig of the vodka a let out a deep sigh. At least this was better condition than on Levosia.

A couple more swigs from the vodka bottle and I started to feel light. The 9 Russians vodka was banned on several planets because of its high alcohol levels. I heard people pass by and hoped that one of them would be the Lieutenant. An hour passed with no sign of the Lieutenant. I closed my eyes and decided to have a proper sleep sex could wait.

"Sergeant." I heard a soft whisper in my ear. "Wake up Sergeant." I heard the whisper again.

I slowly opened my eyes. The Lieutenant was on top of me, in a bra. I immediately felt my boner rise. I could see the Lieutenant could feel it as well as she smiled.

"Lieutenant, uh. It's nice to see you." I awkwardly said.

She laughed and smiled. " Call me Kiran and I can tell that it's more than nice to see me."

She moved back and undid my towel. I was now completely naked. The Lieutenant smiled even more. Turning away she made sure the door was closed and moved my locker slightly so that it was blocking the door.

"Close your eyes." She giggled.

My heart was racing as I closed my eyes. I opened my eyes again and what I sight to behold it was, better than when I was drunk.

* * *

_February 4, 2531_

I woke up in my bed. The towel that I was wearing was on the ground. My bed sheets were half on the floor half on my bed. I was still naked. The clock on the wall told me that it was actually 2 in the morning.

"Go back to bed." Grumbled Kiran.

She was curled up in a ball behind me. We had been going at it for a long time. I lasted longer than I expected. Now after a rest I needed a walk. I got up from the bed still completely naked. I saw that none of my new squad members had returned.

I reached into my locker and put on some pants and a tank top that I had picked up on sale back on Reach. I also grabbed my Cigar that I hadn't fully finished and also the vodka bottle that still had a couple of mouthfuls left in it.

Kiran was still sleeping when I left. I headed off in a random direction to see where I ended up. The ship was pretty quite apart from a few parties in some of the marine's rooms. I moved down to the mess hall where there was also a small party. There was nothing big, but it looked nice enough to just chill.

"Look boys! It's the legend himself." I heard someone call.

Looking over my shoulder I saw that there was no one there. I was wondering if they were talking about me. That would be weird though. I wasn't a legend. I had killed a lot of Covenant in one campaign that was all. Legends are men who prove themselves over a series of campaigns time and time again.

I saw that it was Captain Howard that had called it out. He was trying to do what he had told me to do. Get me famous.

The room of drunkards cheered. I walked over to join them. I didn't mind when some of the men grabbed the 9 Russians bottle out of my hand, but I defended the Cigar by swatting preying hands.

I reached the captain in the middle of the group who embraced me. I gave him a hug back. He was obviously drunk, as I could smell spilt tequila all over his shirt. The blast shields were open and I could see Harvest below us. The planet looked as green as it had ever been, but I knew that the other side of the planet was another story. We were heading in tomorrow, as per the HIGHCOM decision. No one minded, a few of the technicians on board had tried to dig up the reason why we hadn't gone into battle straight away finding nothing.

The Captain brought my mind back to the party by giving me a hard slap on the back.

"Now this bloke here has killed 273 elites! Plus 4 ultras, I mean you can't get anymore legend than that!" He shouted.

The crew cheered and drunk even more alcohol. Some of the crew came up and gave me pats on the back and high fives. I felt awkward though, I don't know why.

The party then moved away from me. The crew was more interested in finding more alcohol than they were in a killer. I left them and headed back to my room. I heard a bit of commotion from inside before I entered.

"You get the fuck out!" I heard someone yell.

It wasn't Kiran's voice so I was safe on that respect, unless it was Kiran getting yelled at. The door flew open and rebounded off my bed. Out came a marine who had a bloody nose clotted up with tissues. He glared at me as if it was my fault that he had a bloody nose.

"Keep walking squid boy." I grunted.

Marines had gotten the nickname of squid years back when navies were still on the ocean. Now it was mainly used as an insult to the marines. Seeing my size the marine wisely kept on walking. I watched him walk down the corridor and take a turn before opening the door again carful not to hit my bed. There were two ODSTs lying on their beds and another one on the floor with a bleeding face.

"Hey, you too dickhead. Out." The ODST on the floor said to me.

I sneered at him as I opened my locker. The two other ODSTs got the message but the one on the floor who was obviously concussed tried again.

"Hey faggot." I grabbed my pistol from its holster. "Yea you! Hey show some respect!" He shouted at me.

He attempted to get up off the floor. It was time to show my dominance. I closed the locker revealing the scared M6C pistol. I aimed it at the ODST and shot at the ground next to him. He lost his balance and fell back down to the floor.

"If you think that I owe you any respect. Think again. Insult me again and I will shoot you and then throw your corpse out of the fucking airlock." The vodka was finally hitting me.

The two other ODSTs had retreated to the their lockers trying to grab their weapons.

I moved forward at the ODST on the ground. He crawled backwards trying to get away from me.

"Do you understand me?" I yelled.

The ODST nodded and curled into a ball. "I'm sorry I didn't hear you!" I shouted at him.

One of the other ODSTs had managed to grab his MA5 and was struggling to put a cartridge into it.

"Is this who I am now teamed with?" I boomed. "A bunch of little shits trying to prove something to their families? You can't even put a bloody cartridge into your fucking gun under pressure!"

I walked back to my locker and returned my pistol to its holster. The other three ODSTs were dumbstruck with how fast things had happened. I had gone to nearly killing them, to lecturing them and now to ignoring them completely. Drunk me I guess.

I lay down on my bed and passed out.

"Today is a new day, boys. A new day to prove something!" I said over the mike. "A campaign, the second or third for some of us." I walked down the rows of the new ODST bay.

The new ODST bay had been made to save space after the previous bays had been destroyed during our first campaign. They now put the two teams together in the same bay meaning that there were 11 other ODSTs standing in the corridor listening to my speech. The new bay gleamed of clean metal, give it a month or two and the bays will be covered in blood and grit.

"We are the elite of the UNSC Marine Corp. The Covenant fears us, as they rightly should." The ODSTS seemed to nod and grunt in agreement. "We are ODSTs! Fighting is in our blood! Damn right it fucking should be, otherwise I would have been a bloody fucking lawyer!" The ODST's cheered. "Now let's go fuck some bitches up."

I put on my helmet and showed off its battle scars as I nodded to the ODSTs. I reached the end of the corridor where my new squad leader, John, greeted me.

John was Earth descent, South Africa to be precise. He served in the Navy as a weapons officer before transferring to the Marines at the start of the war with the Covenant. He served for a single short campaign before moving to ODST training.

"Great speech mate, although I think it wasn't really necessary." He said to me in his thick South African accent.

"Yea I know but the LT made me do it. He thought it might inspire the men." I replied pissed.

"Hahaha you mean that LT Obergon." Joked John.

"Yea the fucker." I turned to get into my pod.

John chuckled and turned to his pod. I placed my SRS 98 in the weapons compartment. I wrapped my MA5 around my back and stood inside my pod. John did the same and grinned at me as someone ran down the corridor. There was a small chat that went over my interface, 'Damn she is hot', was the main comment that was going around.

"Matthew!" A girl shouted.

I stepped out of my pod to see who had called me. Several other ODSTs had leaned out of their pods to see what was going on. Mackey bumped into me as she was running down the corridor.

"Sorry Sir." She said as she stepped away from me.

She didn't recognize me in my armour and from the looks of it I looked intimidating in it. I took off my helmet to show Mackey that it was me.

"Haha, I could get used to people calling me Sir." I joked.

"Matthew!" She exclaimed realizing it was me.

She looked up at me and smiled, I smiled back.

"I'm about to drop so… yea." I said awkwardly not knowing what to do.

"Tap that mate!" Shouted Qin.

Qin was the 5th ODST that was also in my room apart from the Ocus, Christian, John and Marcus.

"Can it Hell Jumper!" Yelled Marcus as the room laughed.

Marcus was not second in command, but he had his contacts. He was an ex-ONI agent. If you believe that there are ex-ONI agents. He was also from Earth and South Africa. It seemed like there was a plan here putting two Earth, South Africans on the squad.

Mackey blushed and looked away slightly embarrassed. While Mackey was looking away I gave Qin a hard death-stare. He got the message and leaned back inside he pod closing the door.

I looked back down at Mackey. "Hey you ok?" I asked as she was starting to sob.

She chuckled a bit. "Yea, I'm fine. It's just… just I don't…"

"Sergeant Drastly! Get in your damn pod!" Boomed the Captain over the comms. "We haven't got all day! If we miss the drop point you are fucking going out an airlock!"

The room chuckled a bit before returning to silence.

"You were saying?" I asked Mackey.

She shook her head. "Nothing, nothing. Just make it back please." She begged.

I nodded. I thought about kissing her but I didn't feel right. Yesterday I had fucked Kiran and I didn't want to cause a fight. That was a bit egotistical but it was true, kinda.

"I'll try, for you." I said before kissing her on the forehead.

She smiled at me again as I put on my helmet. I nodded to her and stepped back into my pod. The door closed in front of me and Mackey stood close and watched as I dropped down 120,000 feet towards the planet below.

"You two are to grab a high level ONI operative from the Holding Tower. There will be a team waiting for you 4 clicks south-east from the building." Lt. Obergon said to us.

The holo-table showed the city of Gladsheim. The UNSC had declared the city destroyed after the last civilians were evacuated. That was back in 2525; now the city had been ignored by the Covenant, as our ground forces had pulled even further north. ONI had used the city as a way to fight behind the lines. Lately it had been retaken by the Covenant, as pushes from the UNSC Army had forced them back into the city. Now there was a high ranking ONI agent trapped in the city and needed to be rescued, as usual.

Qin was standing next to me with his battle rifle hooked onto his chest. I was sitting down on a crate that was in the corner of the room. The Lt. looked at me in the darkness and I nodded. Qin who was more in the light gave the Lieutenant thumbs up.

"Dismissed." He said.

'Whatever dickwad." I mumbled.

The Lt. turned and faced me. He chose against punishing me and turned back around and walked into the connecting tent. Qin chuckled a bit before leaving the tent. I followed Qin out and we walked back towards out tent. The camp was a buzz of activity; everyone had made it down safely apart for a few minor injuries with some stupid marines who had decided to jump from their pelican early.

The drop for the ODSTs had been uneventful; the area that we had dropped into had just been cleared of Covenant when we dropped so the Navy was pissed about paying for new pods. We landed and a bunch of marines were waiting for us to gloat about their victory.

Now we were going to rest for 10 minutes before we armoured up. Marines moved out of the way for us while giving us looks. We hadn't exactly made the best reputation after Jone, who was the ODST that I nearly shot, decided it would be good to get into a fight at the lunch line today. Obviously we had to help him out but it meant that not many of the marines liked us anymore, not that they did in the first place.

"Matt!" I heard someone call.

I knew it was Marcus before I turned around. I had caught a hint of a South African accent. I saw him jogging towards me. He had a lot a history, more than he would tell us. We could tell when he was talking with some shady ONI figures at lunch after the fight.

"I heard you got given a mission." He asked as he reached me.

"I wonder why that is?" I asked.

He knew what I was implying about his contacts with ONI. He looked away innocently. "No, no. I just heard something around the camp."

"We just go the assignment. No one knows about it." I caught him out.

He chuckled. "Yea I get it mate, don't need to rub it in."

Marcus walked away back towards the administrative tents. I watched him he looked normal walking towards them, as if he belonged there. There was something that he was hiding, something that no one knew but ONI.

"Come on Matthew! We don't have much rest time." Qin shouted as he entered our tent.

I shrugged off the fact that Marcus could be endangering the squad because of ONI because I knew that Marcus wasn't an ONI cunt. I started towards the tent and prepared to nearly die once again.

* * *

"You will be dropped 2 clicks south of the Holding Tower. There you will use the cover of the skyscrapers and move towards the building and take out any Covenant that would impede your escape. The target must not be harmed; he is vital to the war effort of Harvest." Lt. Obergon said over the mike.

Qin and I nodded to each other as the pelican landed on the rood of a small skyscraper.

I was holding my MA5 in my hands and had my SRS-98 attached to my back. I needed a way to cut down its size as it was a bit of a pain to have the barrel at head level.

"We are moving now sir." Qin replied.

I heard the connection drop and now it was only Qin and I on a private channel. We hopped off the back of the pelican. The rear holding bay door closed and the pelican flew off into the darkness of the storm. Qin and I nodded to each other as we walked towards the roof entrance with rain pouring down on us. The rain made a distinct sound as it hit my armour. The sound comforted me, being in space for so long takes it toll on the mind and I needed a natural sound once in a while.

"Opening up." Qin muttered.

I turned my back to the door while Qin opened it up. I looked out across the other building making sure that we hadn't been spotted by a Covenant patrol. I couldn't see much because of the rain, not even my enhanced visor could have helped me

I heard the whine of rusty metal, as Qin pushed the door open. He gave me a tap on the shoulder and a moved backwards out of the rain. Qin closed the door behind me.

"Well fuck, I pissed that amount of rain last night after drinking." Qin told me grinning.

"Yea, that's why you didn't last two seconds with that pelican pilot." I joked as I headed down the stairs.

"Please." Qin said. "She enjoyed it."

"Is that why she came out of the toilet looking unsatisfied." I laughed.

Qin didn't reply he just stayed silent obviously fuming. This made we laugh more. We continued down the stairs heading for the top floor entrance. The building had been in ill repair and obviously there had been some firefights in here as well by the state of the walls and stairs.

"In here." I muttered to Qin.

I approached the door and raised my rifle at it while Qin moved around to the side of it. We looked at each before I nodded. He replied with a slight tap on his helmet.

"Good luck. I hope you die." He muttered with a smile before polarizing his visor.

I grinned back as he reached for the door handle. With a quick push the door swung open and I charged inside. The floor was empty. The cold wind blew at me, causing me to shiver slightly. I lowered my gun as Qin came in crouched low and scanning the floor.

"Nothing?" Qin questioned his rifle still raised.

I shook my head. "Nothing."

Qin stood up and nodded. "Its fucking cold up here man."

I de-polarized my visor as I looked out over the city. "Yea, this storm is clearing up though. There are clearer skies coming." I said pointing out into the distance.

Qin took off the bag of equipment he was carrying. "How long do you think until it clears?" He asked.

I looked more closely at the clouds. The dark grey balls of fluff pissed down on the city. "I give it 3 hours. 2 at the least if the wind picks up."

Qin dropped a harness on to the floor with a loud thud. I turned around and looked at his climbing equipment. "Then we better get moving then." He said.

"Good luck Qin." I said over the comms.

"You better be in position by the time I reaching the Holding Tower." He warned.

"Chill mate. I got it. All I have to do is climb across a half collapsed building and avoid Covenant patrols. It will be a walk in the park." I joked.

I heard Qin chuckle before he ended the connection. I watched as he repelled down the side of the building that we were once in. I was now standing in the middle of two buildings. Kneeling down on a metal beam. Adrenaline rushed through me as I looked down, 50 stories high.

I turned away from Qin and stood up. Continuing my walk across the metal beam. The wind made we uncertain as I slowed down to make sure I didn't lose my balance.

"Don't look down… Don't look down Matthew… Just don't."

I rushed the last bit of the beam and leaped into the next building.

"Fucking hell. They can pick one of those other assholes for this mission next time." I told myself as I headed for the stairwell.

This time the two building were connected by a bridge, which meant that I didn't have to risk my life trying to cross it. We had checked in with command and the latest reports said that this building hadn't been taken by the Covenant yet. I shoved the stairwell door open causing it to smack against the wall with a loud bang.

"Fuck that." I said jogging down the stairs.

"Qin, how you going mate?" I asked over the comms.

There was a short silence before he replied. "Crossing the street now. A lot more Covenant activity than reported. ONI had fucked us man."

I suddenly felt a butterfly feeling in my stomach. "Have any entered the bridge buildings?"

Again there was a short silence. "Yea, by the looks of it they have fortified the bottom floors pretty tight. Be carful man."

I raised my MA5 and walked down the stairs more cautiously. I realized the noise that I had been making could have endangered me.

With each floor that I passed I pressed my ear against the door to try and hear if any Covenant were inside. With 10 floors to go I was getting very nervous.

"Should have taken the fucking elevator. Why didn't I think about the elevator?" I said to myself.

I came to the floor above the bridge. Pressing my ear to the door I heard nothing. It was quiet. Nothing. I waited for a couple of seconds before moving on down the stairs.

I heard a door below open and the high-pitched chatter from grunts. I shat myself and quickly backed into the door. I heard the chatter getting closer as I closed the door and quickly pushed a table in front of it.

"Shit." I whispered.

I moved away from the door with my gun still aimed at it. I heard as the grunts passed by the door. Each one of their high-pitched squeaks made me more nervous.

"Pass by you little shits. Go on." I said to myself.

The grunts stayed on this floor for a while before I heard their talking get lower and lower. I stood up and let out a sigh of relief. I slung my gun around my shoulder and walked towards one of the windows.

I got hit with a strong wind as I looked down 30 floors to a flooded street. If the water was deep enough then I might be able to drop down and survive with the help of my armour, but I wouldn't walk away without a couple of broken bones.

To my left was the bridge. The enclosed bridge spanned across the wide street to the identical building on the other side. Large windows served as walls for the bridge. Half of them were broken revealing the massive amounts of Covenant that were crossing in between.

"Motherfuckers." I said.

I watched as grunts sat manning plasma turrets. They watched over the street below, but more focused on the air. They were building defenses to prevent the UNSC from dropping troops in the first place, but that wasn't my priority right now.

"Qin, I'm going to have to take a long route round. The Covenant have taken over the bridge. Hold back for a bit." I said over the comms.

I didn't wait for a reply before moving towards the roof of the bridge. I de-polarized my visor and looked out across to the other building. The Covenant hadn't moved to that floor yet.

I once again heard the high-pitched squealing of grunts come close to the door behind me. This time they were joined by the deep voice of an elite. The door moved slightly open. The table barely moved. Realizing that I was about to be found I quickly jumped down onto the roof of the bridge and started to run across it.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I yelled as I was pushed aside by a hard gush of wind.

I tripped over myself and fell hard down onto the roof. I heard the scrapping of the metal table being pushed on the ground. I scrambled back up and began running again.

"Holy shit." I gasped as I finally reached the other side.

The door in front of me opened, and two grunts entered. They froze when they saw me just standing there. I polarized my visor and raised my MA5. The grunts turned to run away. I pulled the trigger and the rounds slammed into the backs of the grunts.

Everything had happened in slow motion for me. Now things sped up again and I was on the move. I needed to get to the roof quickly. I made for the stairwell, bumping into an elite who had come to investigate the gunshots. The elite didn't freeze like the grunts, throwing a backhand at my face. I ducked under much to the elite's discontent. I tackled the elite and shoved it over the railing.

"Fucking cunt." I yelled after his body as it fell down bashing against railing after railing.

I heard the squealing of grunts and the deep yells of elites below me on the stairs. The only way was up. I had to improvise.

I grabbed a grenade off my chest as pulled the pin. I dropped it down the middle of the stairwell and prayed it exploded in time. I heard a couple of sharp squeals as it blew up in the air.

"Thank the lord for that." I muttered.

I started up the stairs jumping up 4 stairs at a time to go up faster. I wasn't worried about elites chasing me, as they hadn't gotten the concept of human stairs, we made them a tad too steep for them. I was worrying about the jackals and grunts that could actually climb the stairs.

My armour was changing its climate control to keep up with my rising temperature. I saw the door a couple of floors above me. I made the final push before dropping another grenade down the stairs. This time there were no squeals.

I burst out of the door and was taken by surprise by a jackal who had been knocked down onto the floor. I raised my rifle with one hand and put a couple of rounds into its head.

"Qin! Get ready to grab that ONI son of a bitch and get out of here!" I yelled through my mike.

Qin moaned through the comms. He obviously was having a nice lie down. "How long do I have Drastly?"

A jackal that had previously been standing under the cover of his shield was startled as I came around the corner of a power unit. I lifted my rifle with one arm and aimed at it. I pulled the trigger; each bullet missed the target as I came to the edge of the building.

"Qin! Get the bastard now!" I screamed.

Elites and grunts barged through the stairwell door and started firing blindly at me. The stunned Jackal raised his plasma pistol and fired a shot. I jumped off the ledge of the building without thinking.

"Holy fucking shit!"

I flew through the air and dropped down. The roof of my target building was only 4 floors down from where I jumped. I smiled to myself as I thought I was going to make it. I reached out with my arm to grab onto the ledge but missed it completely.

"Oh fuck." I muttered.

I smashed straight through the glass window of the top floor and tumbled into a desks and tables. I flipped once before coming to a stop when I hit a wall.

"Son of a bitch." I groaned.

My body armour sensing my collision with multiple objects was doing a scan of my body. I let it do its scans before standing up. I waited for around 30 seconds before I heard a cheerful beep, if you want to call it that.

"Body vitals are clear." The electronic voice said. "High levels of adrenaline and high heart rate please check with field medic."

"No shit, I just jumped across a fucking street."

"One injury has been detected, fracture in the right thumb."

"Well fuck, I'm going to have to learn how to wank with my left then."

I stood up quickly. I brushed off the debris that I collected on my way into the building and unhooked my SRS from my back. I checked it for dents that could mess up the firing. Nothing, these damn rifles were tough.

"Matthew, I'm moving on the target now. You better be fucking ready."

I snapped out of my lull after tumbling through a building and jogged to the other side of the floor. Hopefully by the time that Qin got the ONI bloke out of the building I would be long gone before the Covenant send a search party after me, maybe they though I was dead.

I found a broken window that overlooked the lower floors of the Holding Tower. The distance was around 700 meters. There was a massive 16-lane highway that separated the two buildings a lot of rain and wind; I was going to have to aim a bit to the right to compensate.

"Qin I'm in position. Go and get the son of a bitch." I moaned.

The whole entire left side of my body started to hurt. I must have hit that side when I flipped around before. I looked down to check if I had been hit. It looked all fine, no plasma burns or anything. I was one lucky motherfucker.

I watched as Qin moved towards an elevator in the tower. Obviously the power was still on in the city. ONI must have kept it on for some buildings. I waited as he sat in the elevator. I watched the floor where the ONI agent was supposed to be hiding.

The elevator opened on the 10th floor. I watched as he cautiously walked out and turned into a corridor. I set my SRS down only having the barrel stay up because of the bi-pod.

I pulled out a picture of Ben and myself. I think we took it right before the battle at the ONI base. That bastard was hard, a good friend. Well I didn't know him for very long, I had developed emotions for him. Not homosexual ones, not that I'm homophobic but the emotions were close. I had a problem I made attachments too quickly. I let people know me too quickly and then they let me know them. I was already having things with Mackey and Kiran. What if I developed emotions for both of them? Yet I couldn't not care about anyone, I was going to have to make a choice. Mackey or Kiran. Obviously if this was about the sex then I would go straight to Kiran, but something's can't be cured by amazing sex. Mackey then, I hadn't had sex with her yet I don't even know what her body looks like. She doesn't wear any revealing clothes. She is a minor weapons officer I think; they aren't the type to be wearing clothes like that. Wait, I hope she isn't one of the Christian types. No sex till marriage, it would be a very short marriage knowing this war.

"I'm coming out now. I have the cunt. Cover me and let's get the fuck out of here. I'm getting cold." Qin said.

My thoughts were broken off. I picked up my rifle again and placed it comfortably in my shoulder. I re-aimed the rifle at Qin's position. The Covenant hadn't moved to the Holding Tower, which was weird. It had multiple landing pads and had the controls to the whole cities power grid. They could redirect it to re-power some of their equipment.

They re-entered the elevator. I nervously waited for them to reach the ground floor. I didn't know how much time I had left before the Covenant found me. They were smart enough to know that I didn't fall to my death.

The elevator door opened and out came Qin and the ONI agent. I watched as they moved between cars and debris. There was no Covenant activity anywhere on the road or on that side of the city at all.

"Qin. Do you have any contact readings?"

I watched as the pair paused and Qin quickly scanned the area. "None."

"This doesn't fit. ONI reported that the Covenant frequently patrolled the road. I saw the damned orbital pictures myself." I scowled.

Qin didn't reply and he pulled the ONI agent up and kept on moving down the road. They quickly reached the safe house building and went inside. I waited a couple more seconds just scanning the road and rooftops. Something didn't add up.

My train of thought was interrupted with the deep voices of elites echoing around the floor. I shat myself. There was nowhere to hide. All the desks didn't protect me completely and I wouldn't fit anyway.

"Qin I'm in trouble." I whispered.

I quickly but silently packed up my rifle and clipped it onto my back. I grabbed onto the edge of the window and swung myself around. The elites came around the corner of the center block that housed the elevator and stairwell. I could hear them grumble. Probably about being put into a search party. I was only hanging on to the edge of the window my legs dangling below.

"Go on past." I whispered as quietly as I could.

The elites walked past and I waited for them to get back into the stairwell before I pulled myself up from the ledge and took a deep breath. Now it was time to find a way down to the safe house.

_Hey guys, I'm going to try something new. I'm going to let you guys vote on whether Matthew dates Mackey or Lieutenant Kiran. I'll see if this works or if you guys like to be surprised instead._

_SpartanHoplite_


	12. Home and Back Again

_February 6__th__ 2531_

I watched as Covenant patrols flew over the city of Gladsheim. I had managed to climb down the outside of the building by jumping floors. I had to kill a few Covenant scouts but for the most part I was silent. I had moved slowly across the street still wondering, why? Why was there so little Covenant in the city right now, the reports had shown large deployment of Covenant forces.

"Qin, open up. I'm crossing the street now." I muttered into my mike.

I paused by another car as another patrol flew over. The weather was clearing up and there were a lot more patrols now. We needed to get out to a farmhouse that was outside the city and we were running out of time.

I crouched and hugged the car waiting for Qin to open the door. He took some time to get to the door. I could see him check through the window before opening. I moved forward slowly and remained low. The white door opened slowly inwards, Qin flashed his torch towards my location.

"Qin I'm coming in."

I took a quick peak over the hood of the car that I was hiding behind before breaking into a sprint. I ran for the door, I could hear the whistle sound of a banshee coming over one of the buildings. I burst inside and slammed the door shut behind me.

"Qin! I made it!" I yelled out.

I leaned back against the door and slid down. I sat down against the door and waited for Qin to come down the stairs. I waited, but he didn't come. I rose slowly, my body aching from my building jump. Something didn't feel right about this house. I prepared for elites or grunts to run around the corner of a wall. I suddenly felt something pushing against the back of my helmet.

"Drop the gun." A voice said.

The voice wasn't Qin's. Maybe it was the ONI agent's but I doubt that the agent could over power Qin. I dropped my MA5 on the floor and lifted my arms. I felt my rifle being ripped off my back. The gun was still pressed to the back of my head. If I was 10 meters away the armour would deflect the bullet, but obviously I wasn't.

"On your knees slowly." The voice said again.

I bent down on one knee and felt a hand touch my shoulder trying to force me down. I reached up and grabbed the hand. In one swift move I twisted the whole arm and launched the man over my back. The gun fell to the floor with a clunk. The man followed with a quick snap of his arm and then the dull thud as he hit the floor. I grabbed the pistol that was now lying on the floor.

"Who the fuck are you." I threatened aiming the gun.

The man didn't reply. He was wearing old, outdated armour covered in dark rags. He was wearing a helmet that had a visor that was from a motorbike helmet. I couldn't see his eyes but he was shaking. He didn't know what he was doing. This guy was an insurgent. The man looked to the door window nervously. He gave the plan away, but I wasn't quick enough to move out of the path of the sniper. I heard the glass crack and felt a sharp sting in my shoulder. There was a thick needle in my armour. I pulled it out revealing a long sharp injector that had managed to pierce my thick armour.

I smiled for a second recalling my resistance to drugs. Then I started to feel woozy. My head started to twirl. I knew what this drug was and it could have only come from one place, Levosia. Who the hell would be able to get Levosia drugs to Harvest Insurgents' during the war?

The man stood up again. The door opened and a man and a woman came inside and grabbed my arms. I lifted the gun and waved it around wildly as my vision started to blur. The two men didn't waver and continued to grab the gun and place a hood over my head. I was dragged outside and thrown into the back of a truck, the metal tray causing my body pain as I connected with it. Where was Qin? Did they kill him?

* * *

_Date Unknown_

The room was crumbling. The cracked concrete floor had grass growing through it. I was outside the city now; they poisoned ground that they build the cities on so these things that doesn't happen. The door was patched up with wood over where the window would be. This was defiantly an Innie base setup.

"Why did you join the UNSC?" A voice said.

I turned around and looked around the room. There was no one. There were dark corners in the room. That was probably where the man was hiding.

"Why?" The voice said more aggressively.

That accent sounded like a fading Levosian accent. A lot of the recent Innie activity comes from Levosia after most of the UNSC force left to help protect other planets.

"To kill you fuckers." I replied with a smile.

There was a static sound from a hidden speaker. I waited for the reply. The reply took about a minute. These guys weren't trained properly, well 'properly' for insurgents.

"Matthew, take this seriously." The reply came.

The voice sounded like it was trying to help me. The person used my name, my first name and not my second. This person must know me, but whom?

"What do you guys want? Put a bullet into my head and get it over with. You will do ONI's job for them anyway." I joked.

"We don't want to kill you Matthew. We want to know the UNSC ground movements in the area. Then you may leave." The speaker said again.

"You think that I would give up my brothers like that? I have fought by half of those men and killing me would be easier."

"That is what your friend said, and that other man that you two have tried so hard to protect. He is ONI isn't he? Why were you going after him?"

"I don't know. I was told to grab him and get out. I wouldn't have told you anymore anyway."

I heard the static turn off and then some shouting from outside the door. Maybe they were going to torture me. I looked down to my bound hands that were attached to the table. The table was wooden by painted black to make it blend into the room. The table had cuts across it from something sharp and also had marks with ink on it. This table had come from a school; I had broken plenty of these when I was a kid. Expelled many times from different schools until I dropped out.

I heard the lock on the door click. The man that was standing in the dark corner walked out of the blackness and walked towards the door. This was the time. I stood up quickly and pulled up quickly. The middle of the table cracked and snapped off. My hands were still bound to the block of the table. The man that had been standing in the corner turned around but he was too late. I lifted the block over my head and brought it down hard breaking it over his head. The piece of wood broke in half and separated my hands.

The door opened quickly and 3 men walked in. Two of the men were holding MA5 rifles but the third was unarmed. All of the men were dressed in black and had black masks on their faces.

I went for the first man who entered knocking the gun out of his hands. I brought up one of the hands, upercutting him in the chin. The second man brought his gun up and fired 2 rounds at me; both missed allowing me to kick him in the chest sending him to the floor. This was too easy; they needed to train these guys better.

"Matthew stop." The last man said.

I didn't listen to him as I walked towards him. The man was unarmed although I could see a shock baton attached to his belt. I prepared to punch the man until he went to take off his mask. I hesitated I wish I didn't.

The man took off his mask and I froze. I knew this man. This kid. He was from Levosia. Was there for me several times before leaving. My brother.

"Tim? Timothy?" I stuttered.

The two men on the ground groaned as they tried to get back up. I didn't move a muscle I just stared at him. My brother, Timothy was on Harvest as my enemy.

"I'm sorry Matthew. I couldn't change you mind. I couldn't make you see that we are having our rights stolen from us. The UNSC is using us for this war. We know they have the capacity to win this war with super-soldiers!" Timothy argued.

"What you don't understand Tim, is that we fight for humanity. Obviously these super-soldiers cannot end the war in a couple of minutes! We are here to keep the Covenant at bay, and save the lives of the civilians! You insurgents sit and watch all this happen and then steal military equipment from soldiers whoa are protecting you!" I screamed.

"Protecting? Protecting us with large taxes for our products! You understood first hand what those taxes did to some of the planets! We were living in poverty Matthew do you remember?" Tim screamed back.

"Of course I remember! I supported our parents longer than you after you left to join this bloody so called 'Rebellion'. You have caused more pain and suffering during you bloody bombings than the UNSC have!" I finished.

There was shouting down the hallway and I could hear footsteps closing in on us. Timothy stared at me with hatred I stared back. Our fists were balled into fists we were prepared to fight.

"Timothy. What happened to you? You used to love the UNSC when we were younger even if we lived in poverty. What made you hate them so much? Then one day you left after a rant about the UNSC. I may be your little brother, but I am disappointed." I said calmly.

"Remember Viola? Remember you two and what happened." I muttered as I got onto my knees and put my hands onto my head as the guards reached us and barged into the room.

* * *

_Date Unknown_

I had been in my cell for two days now I think. They only give me a certain amount of sunlight everyday. The rest of the time I huddle in the corner with the thin blanket I was given. My food is stale and cold; I can hear them opening the windows to the cells next to me meaning that there are more prisoners.

"Matthew Drastly. You have been requested my Lieutenant Drastly." A voice said through the door.

I stood up from the corner and walked towards the door. The food hatch opened and I could hear the rattle of handcuffs.

"Hands through the hatch." The voice ordered.

I put my hand through the hatch and the man tightly secured my hands together. I pulled my hands back through the hatch and waited for the door to open.

The door opened and I saw that the man was one of the men that I had beaten a few days ago. I smiled at him. He replied with a sneer and shoved me down the hall. I started to walk down the hall with the man following behind me.

"So how are you today? How is the chin?" I mocked.

We passed by one of the other cells and I could see that there was someone in there. There was spilt food around the food hatch. The hallway was dark and was falling apart like the interrogation room. I could hear machinery working in the distance. Maybe an abandoned factory?

I could hear smashing in the next cell. Obviously this person has had enough. I was thinking maybe a tough guy civilian who had stayed behind in the city. We walked past the door and the smashing became louder. My guard stopped and walked over to the door. There was a pause in the smashing, I stopped and waited for the guard who bent down to look through the food hatch.

"Stop it in there!" The guard shouted.

As the guard slid the food hatch guard back the door flung off its hinges and smashed into the guard. The guard was sent to the floor with the door on top of him. Qin walked out of the room and spat on the guard's body.

"You fucking stop it." He said.

I knelt down by the guard and grabbed the keys off his belt. I undid my handcuffs with a sigh of relief. Qin walked up to me and I handed him the keys. He then proceeded to unlock the other cell and got the ONI agent out.

I grabbed the old pistol that the guard was carrying, so old I had no idea what it was.

"Good to see you again Qin." I said standing up.

We shook hands quickly and then turned to face the ONI agent. His face was dark and bloody. Obviously the Innies knew what they were after. I just wondered if he had cracked and given the information that they wanted.

"We have to move." Qin muttered.

We could hear shouting far in the distance; they obviously had cameras around here. We started to move towards the opposite end of the corridor. The ONI agent looked like he was a bout to suffer a panic attack but managed not to say a word.

We passed empty cells some had bloodstains in them and even dried blood dragged across the floor down the corridor. Qin moved silently down the corridor. I was developing feelings for him. I can't let that happen again. I can't be attached to him like I was to Ben.

"Do you even know where you are going?" The ONI agent asked.

We both remained silent as we continued down the corridor, almost reaching the end. The ONI agent took the hint and went back to being quiet. The sounds of machinery had grown, as we had gotten closer to the end of the corridor. Qin looked at me questionably about the sounds. I just shook my head. There was a door that was welded shut and a large vent that we could crawl through, well I thought that before a burst of boiling steam came out of it.

"Where to now?" Qin asked.

I looked around, as the sounds of shouting grew closer and closer. I started to panic slightly and looked around franticly.

"Come on Matt! Find us a way out!" Qin shouted.

I saw men running down the long corridor lined by the cells. Well the beatings around going to be fine. I just couldn't stand the cold in the cells. Maybe I could ask for an extra blanket nicely.

"Well, at least we tried." I muttered.

Qin nodded at me and we both stood up and place our hands on our heads. The ONI agent on the other hand was about to lose it. He had obviously been mentally tortured more than physically and wasn't prepared to go back in for more.

The group of men stopped and lifted to guns at us. "On the floor now!" One of them screamed. We complied and got slowly onto our knees and then lay flat on our front. The ONI agent had now started to cry, he was scarred for life.

There was a loud bang fro outside the building. The ground shook for several moments before there was an even louder bang. It was clear that they were explosions. The men stood around looking at the structure around them.

"On my go, we run." I muttered to Qin and the agent.

I never got a chance to say go as another explosion shook the building and the ground below the guards collapsed. The now obvious centre area of the structure fell apart bit by bit. Then came the water, the water wouldn't stop. We were in a dam. I crawled over to the edge and saw the colossal drop down below.

"Holy shit!" Screamed Qin as he crawled next to me.

The sound of the gushing water was deafening. I covered the side of my face to protect it from the stinging fast moving water. What the fuck just happened.

The ONI agent was curled into a ball in the corner of the remaining dam. I looked at Qin and sighed. He returned the look and the sigh. We walked towards the agent and grabbed his arms.

"The Innies are gone now." I told the agent trying to comfort him.

The agent looked up and opened his eyes to see the massive drop below. With a screech the agent tried to squirm free of our grasp to no avail.

"Do you boys need a ride?" I heard a voice over a loud speaker.

I looked up at the clearing sky, protecting my eyes from the sun. I could hear the sound of pelican engines in the distance. I looked down the cliff and saw a pelican begin to rise quickly.

The pelican leveled out and I could see both Marcus and John in the cockpit. Those South Africans, I'm starting to love them. The pelican did a 180 and lowered the loading ramp. Qin and I tightened our grip on the ONI agent and dragged him over to the pelican.

Marcus was waiting for us in the protection of blood tray. "Nice to see you boys." He said. Although he wasn't our superior we knew that his connections in ONI made him more influential than us. We handed him the agent and took our seats. Although I still had more armour on, I didn't have my helmet.

Marcus sat the agent down and injected something into his soldier. After strapping the agent in he sat down opposite us. He was dressed in half BDU for no reason at all.

"How did you find us sir?" Qin yelled over the sound of the roaring water.

"After you missed the RV we scanned the city for your trackers." He said. "We found your helmet and guns in the same house that you were taken from Matthew. On the other hand, Qin, we found all you equipment in a dump further down." He cleared his throat. "At first we thought you were dead, and we… cleared you records because this mission was never brought before any committee. HIGHCOM didn't know, so we had to cover our backs. You technically no longer exist." Marcus stopped. "So, you now have a choice. One, we can bring back your records and claim it was a mistake. Yet you would have to sign a secrecy document and be stationed on a new ship. You will also most likely be deployed to the more dangerous areas of the war and most likely die." Marcus finished.

Qin and I looked at each other. We had seen some bad stuff, but we still didn't the idea of more dangerous battles. We were content with the action we had gotten already even though if it was for a single battle.

"And the second option?" I asked.

"We keep you slate clean. Nothing will go on record, except missions that are known. Your kill counts will be reinstated and any other information that we don't deem to reveling. You will be protected form police and military police, but you still will be punished by ONI." Marcus said.

"I don't like the idea of being one of ONI's pawns. The more dangerous planets sounds better by the second." I grunted.

Qin nodded agreeing with me. "Yea, if you want us to work for you, you're going to have to try a bit harder."

Marcus scowled. "Fine. I can guarantee that you won't be pawns, but ONI can and will call upon both of you to undertake missions. You can accept and decline these missions, yet if you do it too many times we will force the first option on you but your record stays hidden."

Qin and I nodded in sync. That was a much better proposal. Now those techs can't just run around looking at our records. This is going to be fun.

The pelican flew over the flooded city and up back towards orbit. I could see the ships above. The fleet was smaller than what I saw when we arrived, but at least it was still there.

* * *

_February 15__th__ 2531_

"Mackey! Where did you leave the Tomato Sauce?_" _I shouted.

I closed the fridge and grabbed my beer off the small table by the wall. I walked into the bathroom to where Mackey was taking a shower.

"Mackey! Where is the sauce?" I asked again.

There was sill no response. The shower was metal so I couldn't just see her, sadly. Mackey had been promoted to Lieutenant Commander after the recent battle. Apparently she had kept the ship's AI running after a power core had failed, and also her superior had died in the battle. Now I had spent the last two nights in her new quarters. They were pretty because she now had command over 200 naval techs.

I reached in and flushed the toilet. Yea, I know. To cut down on costs the water system had been run off the same pipes. The cold water poured into the toilet bowl. I waited for a couple of seconds before Mackey let out a scream. I started to laugh as I closed the door to let her cover up.

I left and grabbed my bowl of spaghetti and sat on the small couch that Mackey had. I had set up my holo-pad on the table and it acted as a T.V. I flicked through my T.V. shows and movies before choosing a horror movie from my favorites.

"Matt!" Mackey screamed from the bathroom.

I chuckled to myself. I turned to watch the movie and acted as nothing happened. Mackey walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her. I looked up from my food. She was beautiful, so beautiful. No make-up, no surgery, nothing. She was perfect, well I mean, I don't know about sex yet, yet.

"Matt, you asshole." She grumbled.

I tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't hold in the laughter. I placed my bowl on the table before dropping to the floor and burst out laughing. Mackey stood there with a frown on her face she wouldn't budge.

"Fine be like that." She said.

I kept on laughing. "No Tomato Sauce for you." She said in her English accent.

I stopped laughing immediately. "Now that is taking it too far. Way too far. Never take Tomato Sauce away from a man."

"A man! A man?" Mackey laughed.

I stood up quickly and charged at her. She stopped laughing and raised her hand to protect herself. I moved to the side and missed her by centimeters. She let out a small whimper as I passed by her. I laughed and looked her in the face. She was surprised she wasn't expecting that.

"No Matthew! Stop!" She shouted and her and punched me in the arm hard.

I started to laugh again. I looked at her again and I could feel a feeling down in my pants. I just couldn't resist, not her. I stood close to her, really close. I pushed her wet hair behind her ear, which is the most cliché thing to do. She looked up and smiled at me. I bent my neck to the side and bent down; closing my eyes I went in for the kiss.

"No… no. I'm sorry." Mackey said pushing me away.

This took me back; she had been giving me all the signs. Signs like inviting me over and getting all touchy. Yet she was obviously not ready yet. I nodded at her.

"It's ok, I understand, I was too soon." I said.

I pulled her in for a hug, which she accepted quickly.

"No go put some clothes on." I joked.

Mackey came back from putting clothes on, that consisted of a full navy blue suit of a UNSC navy jumper and track pants. We then spent the next 2 hours watching 'Devil's Beginning". The movie was very poorly made but it was still a good laugh. We fell asleep cuddling on the couch and enjoyed the moment, I was deploying again tomorrow.

* * *

_February 16__th__ 2531 _

"This is it for us, the defenders of Reach." The great voice boomed over the PA. "6 years we have fought and bled for this planet, this planet, we cannot lose." The voice paused. "We have lost friends, millions of civilians and soldiers alike. Now, now is the time to kill millions of them in a swift and final blow. Much of the planet has been glassed. Only small pockets and the northern pole remain unscathed, lets keep it that way." The voice ended.

That was Admiral Preston Cole, one of, if not, the best Admiral that the UNSC had. He had been fighting at other planets before returning here with a larger fleet of ships and he was prepared to take Harvest back once and for all. My only question was, could he do it?

The Covenant had a large fleet above the northern polar region with smaller pockets of ship over the remaining non-glassed areas of the planet. Fighting through all of those pockets and then against the final large fleet was going to be hard, and I didn't want to be stuck down on the surface when the plan goes sour.

"You have to go now! I have to get to my post and you have to get to your pod!" Mackey exclaimed.

I got out of the shower and dried off quickly. Mackey barged in as I was putting on my pants.

"Matthew!" She yelled. " You don't even have our bloody clothes on!"

"You know, you would make a great mother." I joked.

Mackey grunted. "Fine, you want to get court-martialed. Go ahead. "

I chuckled a bit. I knew I had to get back to my room and grab my armour and all but we had about 10 minutes until be got to the drop zone. That was 5 minutes sleep and then 5 minutes of rushing, sounded like a good plan to me.

I left the bathroom quickly and grabbed my holopad from the table. I walked back over to Mackey and hugged her from behind. At first she struggled, yet she embraced it and grabbed onto my arms.

"Don't touch any wires ok?" I whispered in her ear.

She giggled a bit. "Don't shoot yourself."

I smiled to myself. Everything was quiet and we enjoyed the moment.

"Get the fuck out of there, Matt!" Screamed John from outside.

The silence had been broken. I sighed before kissing Mackey on the top of her head.

"My place next time ok?" I said before leaving out the door.

I didn't have time to listen to Mackey's reply, as I was grabbed by the ear by a massive South African Hulk.

"I swear to you Matthew, you better have been fucking right now or something because I am pissed." John grunted.

He was wearing full body armour and by the looks of it he was carrying a ton of ammo, more than was required for the amount of time we were going to be spending on the ground if the plan went all to plan.

"You have your suspicions then, about the plan?" I asked.

John looked the other way. "The last time I was told that we were going to have a quick naval battle and then we would be getting back onto the ships, they lost. I was on the ground with no ammo. I scavenged off dead bodies, off my friends. Soon I had nothing, no food, and water. I accepted my fate I was going to die. Then I miracle happened and more ships arrived. I was lucky enough to get on one of the ones that didn't get shot to pieces. So yes I have my suspicions." John took in a deep breath from saying that so quickly.

I nodded knowing not to reply, it was a touchy subject. We turned a corner and we bumped into a squad of marines on their way to the hangar bay. In the lead was LT Kiran. She smiled at me.

"Hey sexy Hell Jumper." She said to me.

As we drew closer she stood on her toes and went full out on my face. I was shocked at first but then I went with the flow, I still hadn't decided which one I wanted.

"You make it back and we can repeat last week." She said, finishing.

Her squad said nothing and moved on as she left me. I stood their frozen in shock. It had happened so quickly.

"So which one am I getting?" John questioned.

"Shut up." I muttered.

I regained the ability to move again and started to walk down the corridor quickly.

"Do they know?" John bugged.

"Know what?" I grunted back.

"That there are two of them?"

"No. I am still making up my mind."

"So you have fucked both of them?"

"No, just that LT back there. Mackey is still touchy about her last relationship."

"Who was it with?"

"My ex-squad mate. You sleep in his bed."

"That's bad dude, real bad. You just don't do that to your dead buddies."

"I never talked to him. We had a small fight, joke fight. That was it. I didn't even know his last name."

John stopped talking as we reached our room. I walked in to see Ocus and Christian getting their gear on. Ocus was the drunken marine from a week ago that I had pointed a gun at. Ever since he has been a bit scared of me.

"Hurry up boys. We don't have time to mess around, and bring extra everything."

I opened my massive lock with the key from around my neck. I had gotten a massive cardboard box full of smaller cigarette boxes; they seemed to calm me down. I grabbed 5 smaller boxes and threw four of them into my bad and then placed one in my right chest pocket. Next was ammo, I was going to need a lot of it. Prøg had made a new batch of bullets for me a couple of days ago, so I was set on that. I was running a bit low on my pistol ammo but I had enough to last. I had plenty of MA5 ammo though; this ship never ran out of MA5 ammo, never.

"Hurry the fuck up!" John screamed again.

I placed as many sniper cases in my armour pockets as I could before dumping extra bullets into the bottom of my bag. I had bought explosive rounds earlier when I had come back from leave; I grabbed 5 of them and placed them in bullet holders on my shoulder. Next was the MA5 ammo, I placed cartridges in my spare bum pockets, until it started to feel a bit uncomfortable. I placed spare M6C ammo on my wrists.

"See you at the pods." Christian said to me as he left the room.

I nodded and continued to grab my pistol and put it in its holster. I attached my rifle onto my back. Prøg had spent the whole of the day I got back knocking out dents and replacing the most of the internal parts, it still had its scars and burns, but it worked like a charm. I then took my MA5 rifle in my hands and walked out of the room with my helmet under my other arm. I looked like a complete badass.

I walked down the corridors watching marines and naval techs alike move out of my way, one of the advantages of being an ODST, the respect. The lift took me down to the small corridor that led along some ammunition storage and then it expanded to the drop pod bay.

"Glad you could joined us Matt. Now get into your bloody pod." John said to me as he got into his own pod.

I placed my rifle in the weapon holder on the side of the pod and strapped in. I was going down again, in the space of 2 weeks. I looked around the pod bay and saw the other ODSTs getting ready, I knew some weren't going to make it, maybe I wouldn't.

_Yes, yes. Cliché ending right there, but I had to end it at some point right?_

_SpartanHoplite_


	13. Harvest Again

_February 16__th__ 2531_

The sea air brushed against my armour. My hands started to feel numb from the coldness of the air. This was the last place on Harvest where there was a small amount of sea. The effects of nuclear winter had been closing in as well, snow was falling more and more, and this place used to be a year round beach resort.

"We need to keep moving." Said John.

We had only landed on the ground 20 minutes ago and we were behind schedule. The wind had pushed us 2 kilometers east of our drop target, which was a small town that had once powered a quarter of the planet's farms. The power reactors were deep under the town and had been seized by the UNSC early in the campaign. We were now tasked with defending the town and the reactor until pelicans came to grab all the power that had been stored in massive batteries.

I rubbed my hands together to get them warm before grabbing my MA5 off the whitening ground. I should have brought gloves. I stood up and turned away from the sea. I let my growing hair flow in the wind as I left my helmet clipped onto my waist. Satellite images showed that the Covenant were moving from their main camp towards our location, but they were on the other side of the planet and we had a day or two to get ready.

"So Matt we heard about you and your two ladies." Christian said.

I let out a loud groan. "John!" I yelled towards the front of the group.

I heard a burst of laughter. "Yes Matt what is it." John asked.

"You are an asshole and the least reliable person I know!" I shouted at him.

The group laughed. "So what actually is happening Matt?" Christian asked.

I grumbled under my breath, cursing John in every way I could. "Fine I'll tell you." I finally said.

The atmosphere of the group changed and everyone was nearly completely quiet, trying to listen in on what was going on in other people's sex lives, because they didn't have one themselves.

"So it all started when I went on my first drop." I started. "I was rushing to get my gear when I slammed into Kiran, a marine Lieutenant." The whole group was fixated on the story. "Anyway, she bashed me in the face after I asked her out for a drink."

"Aha, so get bashed in the face by women means they want it!" Ocus started. "Then why didn't the woman I met in the alleyway run away?"

The group laughed before quieting down again for me to continue. "What I didn't expect was to meet her at camp that following day. So I went and got myself drunk, it was my first firefight and I got hit, I was cowardly during the fight but still. So I accidently walked in on her while she was… you know."

The group chuckled at the thought. I continued. "She bashed me in the face again and said I could see it again if we both made it back alive. So skip forward around three weeks and I'm back on the ship. I go on leave and then a month later I come back and meet up with Mackey who is my ex-squad mate's girlfriend. We talked and she showed an interest and I showed an interest. I thought nothing was wrong at this stage, then the day before our drop and Qin and my run in with the Innes, I meet Kiran again. This time though things got a bit rowdy and I ended up waking up next to her naked. So yea. Then with Mackey well I think I might drop it with her. She's nice and all but I mean, soldiers die every battle and ships get blown up, I would prefer to have a very sexually active life style than not."

The group nodded in agreement and we continued walking silently. We didn't have much to talk about while we walked through the cold landscape. The snow was starting to come down more heavily, and the temperature was dropping quickly. My boots crunched the snow beneath them as I walked, the feeling was new to me, and I had never seen snow.

I held out my hand and caught one of the snow flakes in my hand, it didn't look perfect and solid like they had on T.V. the thing in my hand instantly, how dull.

We drew closer to the town and we passed several abandoned houses, which lay in the outskirts. We gripped onto our weapons tightly as we passed between high walls and buildings. The Covenant weren't supposed to be here but satellite images aren't always reliable.

"Ocus, where is the target building?" John muttered over the comms.

We all stopped moving and crouched down waiting for Ocus to get the map open on his visor. We watched at his head moved around looking for the right place on the map before de-polarizing his visor. He didn't say anything, just pointed down the road. John nodded.

We began to move again. Out heads kept on moving from side to side trying to spot any hostiles before they opened fire. It was pure silence apart from our footsteps and the jiggling of all the ammunition stuffed into our bags.

"This town is a bit too quiet." Qin muttered.

"Don't think about it like that. The town was evacuated ages ago, it is supposed to be quiet." Replied Marcus.

"Yea well we don't know whether we can believe you or not you know." Christian butted in.

"Everyone shut up!" John's voice boomed over the comms. "Remember that people can still hear us talking over our comms."

The squad grew quiet again as we walked down a wide street. We separated and took to the sidewalk, looking into shops and staring at newspapers that we on the ground. This was now a ghost town; the last newspaper was printed in 2526.

"That building at the end of the street in the main and only entrance to the power station below. The last UNSC element left that position a month ago so we can expect to find weapons and ammo all over the building." Ocus told us.

We started to move faster down the road towards the building. No one was looking around for hostiles now. We just wanted to get inside and out of the cold. That was until we heard a crack.

The bullet made contact with my cheek skimming past it taking off a chunk of skin in the process. I cried out in pain as I dropped to the floor. Christian dropped down into the building next to me. I could hear shouting but only in my right ear, everything that my left ear heard was ringing.

I turned my head to the right and watched as Christian returned fire. I felt a drifting sensation and I moved backwards away from the street. My vision started to go blurry; there were bright lights on the roof.

"Wake up Matt!"

I felt a slap sting my face. My vision came back as my head was shook. The bright lights were still there though, I turned my head and realized that I had been dragged into a dentists' office. Marcus was crouching over me; he took one look at the side of my face and cringed.

"Get up, we need to fight back!" He screamed again before leaving.

I got back up and waited for my eyes to readjust to the light before walking back outside. I stopped behind Christian and reached for my helmet, it wasn't there. I looked down to my waist to see that it was not on its clip.

"Start firing back!" Christian said to me as he turned away to reload.

My assault rifle was still attached to me by its strap. I raised the weapon and sprayed a whole clip down the street. I turned back to reload, the air stinging my face. Christian turned and fired a couple of rounds down the street before quickly falling backwards into cover as the sniper fired again taking off chunk the upturned car that was serving as our cover. The front bumper fell to the ground with a loud clunk.

"How does my face look?" I quickly asked Christian as I took another clip from one of my chest pockets.

He scowled as he turned away from the road and looked at my face, he obviously didn't want to do it. He took one look at it and then squinted. "Not good, not good man."

I started to worry. Obviously it wasn't life threatening but what was so wrong with my face. As I crouched down and leaned to the left to take a look down the street I made sure to make my bullets count. The insurgents were held up further down the street behind hastily built barricades. It was hard to spot with the snow coming down, which explains why we didn't spot it at first.

"Two men!" Called out a frantic Ocus. "In white uniform crawling up the street!"

Everyone's eyes shifted to the ground where we spotted two blobs of white. Ocus quickly opened fire on one of them while Marcus took down the other one with ease. As quickly as it took the squad to snap their eyes to the ground they were back on the barricade.

The sniper fired another shot, which hit the ground next to me. Obviously this guy was an amateur. I reached over my back and flicked the clip that was holding my SRS-98 in place. I grabbed it by the barrel and brought it over my back, with the gun firmly in my hands a lay down on the street.

"Cover" Someone screamed.

I heard another shot and then the loud clang of it hitting metal. Christian looked at me weirdly as I crept out of cover. The snow was coming down even harder now and you barely see anything without thermal. My helmet was nowhere to be seen, which meant that thermal was not an option for me.

"Covering fire!" Christian screamed after he realized my plan.

The 5 other members of my squad popped up from cover and started firing down the street. I stopped nudging myself over to the side and looked down my sights. The world seemed to go quiet as the ODSTs' were reloading. The insurgents didn't dare poke their heads out in fear that they were going to get shot.

The sniper fired again. This time it was even less accurate, it was dead centre in the street, were no one was. There was a little quint of light as the sun peered through the clouds. The reflection off the scope of the sniper gave away his position. He was lying down on a balcony next to the barricade.

I took a deep breath and raised my barrel to be square with him. My cross hair was dead centre on his body. As I exhaled I felt my heart beat, I fired. The recoil shook my whole body as the bullet left the barrel. Blood from my face flew off and covered the whole left side of my rifle in dark red splatter.

I saw the snipers body fly back and hit the railing on the other side of the balcony. I pulled back the bolt on my rifle and let the bullet glide out of the chamber. I turned my rifle and aimed at the barricade. The insurgents had had a sudden burst of courage and were firing back. I took aim at the first Innie who looked like he was dressed in white bed sheets to blend in with the snow. He was the most consistent shooter, he was always aiming down his sights and he obviously knew how to shoot. I took aim at his head that was poking out of the barricade and fired again. Once again the blood that had been pooling all over my cheek splattered all over the ground and my gun.

It was finally now that the insurgents had realized that I was shooting at them. Without my helmet on, I could clearly hear the bullets whizzing past my head. I quickly side crawled over to the cover of the up-turned car. Christian now had blood pouring down his arm from a shot in-between his two armour plates, lucky shot.

"You ok?" I asked while putting my rifle back on my back.

Christian looked down at his shoulder and nodded at me. That meant it hurt like fuck but he still wanted to fight. I picked my MA5 off the ground and checked the chamber. Satisfied that the gun was working fine I crept up to the car and sprayed a few rounds over the top.

I top a quick peak over the top to see another insurgent go down from a bullet from Marcus. That guy may be ONI, but he was a hell of a shot. The rest of the insurgents seemed to be wavering, contemplating to retreat on not. With a final kill from John the band of Innies started to move backwards firing as they went. They soon turned around and broke out into a full out sprint.

"Ceasefire!" John yelled through his speakers.

The squad stopped firing in unison and the sound of new magazines echoed through the street.

"Regroup at the shop on the left side of the road."

Christian and I both took another peak over the car making sure it was safe before crossing the street. I didn't bother changing my mag as I had only fired a few rounds. We walked across the street standing up right knowing we weren't about to get shot.

We both walked into the door-less shop and slumped on the ground leaning against the wall. Everyone except for Marcus and John was doing the same. Marcus was also our medic on the squad; he was knelling by Christian while tending to his arm. It seemed that the bullet had gone straight through and didn't hit anything important, so Marcus thought a bandage around the shoulder would do. He then turned to me.

"So, is someone going to tell me what is wrong with my face?" I said sarcastically.

Marcus didn't look like he was in the mood for jokes. "The bullet took out a chunk of your cheek as it past through and then it has passed through the top of your ear. Basically you look like a street dog that got into a fight."

I nodded as he wiped blood off my cheek and placed a large pad on the wound, which covered up most of my cheek. With a few strips of medical tape to keep it in place, Marcus backed away.

"Everyone good?" John asked.

We all nodded while looking around at each other. "Good, we are moving again."

With little complaint we all stood up and filed out of the shop. As we walked down the street I noticed my helmet hanging off a protruding piece of metal coming off the car I was hiding behind. As I grabbed it I noticed it also had bloodstains from my face.

"Matt, put that damn thing on." John told me.

I looked inside to see if any of the blood had gotten on the headrest, luckily it was clean. A satisfying warm chill down my spine as the helmet clicked into place and my armour's heating systems kicked in.

The walk down the street was slow as we checked alleyways and shops for Innies. We crept up on the barricade and made sure that they had properly run away. We could now see the target building properly. It was a one-story building and was built to look like a government building with little attention paid to detail; it was built to protect whatever was inside. There was one entrance and a few windows on the front.

"Eyes open." John muttered through the comms.

We all raised our weapons and walked in a line down the street towards the building. The building marked the end of the street, which was decorated with nice little banks of flowers.

We closed down on the building and marched up the small flight of marble stairs to the double-door entrance. Ocus walked up to the doors and with a powerful kick the metal doors swung open. Ocus was the first to go in, he went too quickly.

"Ocus! Wait!" Marcus screamed.

Marcus dropped his gun and lunged for Ocus's belt. His fingers scraped the edge of the belt as he fell short. A bullet tore through Ocus's stomach. Marcus was showered in blood as the bullet exited through his back. John and Marcus both reacted quickly and grabbed Ocus by his arms and pulled him to the ground.

Christian and I both moved into the building quickly. The few insurgents that remained were either injured or were too scared to fight. With a few bullets the insurgents lay dead. The strange thing was, I felt no remorse for them even if they were human too. I didn't dwell on the fact too long before checking if they were dead.

John and Marcus quickly moved Ocus's body inside the building.

"Close the bloody doors!" John yelled.

Christian and I both nodded and walked over to the doors. They were pretty heavy, that must have been one big kick to open these. We both pushed a door shut and they closed with a bang.

Marcus had already taken off Ocus's rucksack and placed it in a corner. Blood was pooling underneath his body. Marcus was now quickly filling up the hole in his stomach with bio-foam

Ocus grunted in pain as the sharp sting from the bio-foam stabbed his stomach. Marcus then quickly rolled him over and did the same for the hole in his back.

"Matt! Get the blood kit out of my bag quick!" Marcus yelled at me.

I rushed over to him and slid across the marble floor. I opened his rucksack and grabbed a large metal medical kit. I placed in on the ground and ripped it open breaking one of the metal hinges. There were three hard plastic bags of blood. I grabbed one along with a needle and tube. Pushing the med-kit away with my elbow I attached the needle to the tube and then the tube to the one-way valve on the blood bag. I handed the finished product to Marcus.

"Apply pressure to the wound, there is still blood coming out." Marcus said quickly as he snatched the blood bag from my hand. "John, Christian, get over here and take off his armour."

The two ODSTs both ran from where they were standing and knelt down next to Ocus. They both immediately started to take off Ocus's armour. They quickly dealt with bother of his arms, which allowed Marcus access to the veins in his arm.

"Quickly get the body off! I need to find where he is bleeding from."

With a panicked speed, John and Christian took off Ocus's helmet and his body armour. I had to release my pressure on the wound to let them slide the body piece off.

Marcus swatted my hands off Ocus's body and examined the wound. In frustration he took his helmet and slide it across the floor to only be stopped by the wall.

"Where is it goddamn it!" He screamed as he franticly looked around the wound.

With a silent sigh of relief, Marcus dug his fingers slightly underneath the bio-foam, much to Ocus's disliking and pulled out a fragment of a bullet. Now again with a can of bio-foam in his hand Marcus sprayed the wound again. After a few seconds Ocus sighed as the bio-foam numbed the pain.

We all fell back exhausted. That had taken up more energy than fighting the Innies. I turned off my suit's internal heating and took off my helmet. I was sweating all over and it was just dipping below minus five degrees Celsius.

"Um, good work guys." Marcus panted as he slapped my shoulder.

"We should get back to work yea?" Christian said as he rolled over and stood up.

I groaned as I lifted myself up off the floor. "Yea, work."

John had gotten up and walked over to me. He placed his hand on my shoulder. "You're with me on barricade duty."

_February 17__th__, 2531_

The sky was clear, clearer than I had ever seen it. I swear I could see the ships in orbit. A white blanket of snow covered the ground, the air was fresh, and it was all the calm before the storm.

Marcus had been called up by his ONI connections and told that there was an Army unit on its way. The glass had solidified and cooled quicker with the weather and it was now safe to travel on. They were expected to arrive in a day or less. The only problem was the Covenant were only 2 hours away.

"Positions!" John shouted as he put on his helmet.

I peered out of one of the windows and looked down the street. It was empty and quiet. I took a quick look at our barricade work and a smile came across my face. We had managed to push the cars down the road and put them on their sides. The cars now blocked off the sidewalks so the Covenant had to come down the middle of the street where our guns were aimed. We had used the old Innie barricade to board up the windows and secure the door.

I felt the now red patch that covered my cheek. I was ready for this. I walked up the stairs to where my sniper was waiting for me.

"You good?" I asked Ocus as he sat by the window.

He nodded and winched as he moved into a more comfortable position. "Ok then. To make yourself useful, you can fill up my empty mags as the battle goes on. Ok?"

He nodded again.

I lay down on the floor next to my sniper and took off my rucksack. I emptied all my 16.5 rounds onto the ground. I took the time to place them all up right in rows. I placed my full magazines on the other side of my rifle and my empty ones with the bullets.

"Hostile Wraith, 600 meters down the road." I heard Marcus over the comms.

I placed my helmet against the wall facing me so I could hear everything that was coming through the comms.

"Ready up top." I said.

I placed the but of my gun against my shoulder and looked down the scope. The Wraith was moving slowly and was flanked by two elites and then a group of grunts on either side.

"Infantry flanking Wraith."

"Roger."

"Christian grab the rocket launcher. Get ready to fire on my command."

"Yes sir."

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. My mind drifted back to where Vladimir left me in that town. I watched him leave; I wish I had never told him to. I wish had told him to stay. What happened to him? He had a full day start and he wasn't injured. The Covenant battalion that I ran into wouldn't have been there at the time. Did he find another member of the squad and fight to his death? Or did he perish, mowed down by hundreds of grunts and jackals.

The sounds of explosion and then a sudden ball of purple flames dismissed my thoughts. I snapped back to the real world and blinked my eyes. My vision cleared and I watched as elites and grunts alike looked around in dismay. I place my crosshairs on an elite's head. I pulled the trigger and watched with satisfaction as the elite's head was split in two.

"That's one." I muttered to myself.

I pulled back the bolt and let the round eject. I waited until it hit the floor before putting the bolt back. I aimed again at an elite and pulled the trigger. The elite unknowingly ducked out of the way to get to cover and my bullet overshot. The two unlucky grunts behind him fell victim to my bullet. With a quick pull of the bolt the bullet sprung out, but this time I didn't waste time and wait for the bullet to hit the ground before pushing it back.

"They're pushing through the middle!" I heard Christopher yell as he opened fire on the advancing jackals.

I turned my attention to the advancing forces and started to pick them off one by one. Their shields were too small to protect themselves from ground fire as well as mine.

"Matt, don't worry about the guys coming through the centre. You deal with thinning down the number that get through." John yelled over the gunfire.

I didn't bother respond as I adjusted my aim back towards the destroyed Wraith. The Wraith took up the whole street, which forced the Covenant into lines of two on either side of the street. Alternating between the two of them I continuously fired. Ocus was doing a great job of refilling my magazines in time for me to reload.

"That's 32." I told myself as an elite was thrown back by a shot to the chest.

I reached for a new magazine and looked up at Ocus. He seemed to be getting slower and his face was looking white. "You ok buddy." He coughed a bit before nodding. I paid little attention to this as I looked down my scope again.

The elites had now come to their senses' and were now starting to organize a proper attack. They had zeroed in on my position and the small window was now being peppered with needles and small blobs of plasma.

"Ocus when we get out of here remind me to get a shoulder pad." I said as the recoil smacked my shoulder.

There was no reply but in truth I didn't expect one. I fired a shot that ripped through a jackal's head and then through two grunts before it embedded itself into the concrete. I pulled back the bolt and let the bullet drop and hit the floor with a clank. That was the 6th clank, which meant I was out of ammo. Quickly pulling out the empty mag I placed it near the bullets and then reached out for a new one. I swiped to pick one up and hit nothing. Still looking down my scope I swiped again, still nothing.

"Ocus, I need a mag!" I yelled as I spotted a group of elites making their way around the Wraith.

There was no reply as usual. I grunted with dissatisfaction and grabbed an explosive round from my shoulder. The bullet slid out of its holder. I placed it in the still open chamber and pushed the bolt back. I quickly took aim at the wall next to and in the middle of the elites, I fired. The round flew through the air and I watched as the red tip hit the wall it exploded.

"What was that?" John asked over the radio.

"Is that another vehicle?" Marcus added.

"Report Matthew!"

"That was just an explosive round. No need to worry." I replied.

I looked down and smiled at the bloody bodies of the elites. I now turned my attention to Ocus. I pulled the bolt of my gun back and looked up. Ocus had passed out and there was a growing pool of blood beneath him.

"Marcus! Get up here!" I panicked.

"What is it? I'm a bit busy at the moment."

"Ocus had passed out and there is a fucking pool of blood under him!"

There was no reply this time, but I could here that there was change in fire coming from down stairs. It sounded like there were less bullets flying.

Seconds later Marcus barged in through the open down and crouched by Ocus's limp body. Meanwhile I dragged the lined up bullets close to my gun so I grab them easily. I placed a round in the chamber and fired.

"I need some help up here!" I heard Marcus shout.

I didn't bother to react and kept firing. The movements were coming together as a solid motion, the picking up of a bullet, the aiming and firing, ejecting the bullet, and then repeating. I counted to myself the number of elite kills, only speaking out loud when I had hit a 10. I continued firings. "40" I muttered.

There was a loud explosion further down the road. "Was that you Matt?"

"No, that was defiantly not me." I peered down the road and adjust my scope to get a clearer view. I saw another explosion it weren't purple or green, which meant that it wasn't Covenant. I could just make out the ragged clothing of an insurgent.

"Sir it's the Innies." I told John over the comms.

"Do you think they are going to be hostile?" Christian butted in.

"Hopefully not."

"For fuck sake! Someone get up here!" Marcus screamed again.

It was another few seconds before there was another pair of footsteps barging into the room. I knew it was Christian, John would be holding the ground floor with HMG that we had found in the weapons stashes that the Insurgents had kindly provided.

Speaking of Insurgents. I saw the group that had been causing the explosions walk down the road, firing as they went. I placed another bullet in the chamber and waited. I didn't bother firing at the remaining Covenant, why waste the ammo.

"Hold fire, looks like they aren't looking for a fight." I muttered.

We waited, but with our fingers on the trigger, as the small group of Insurgents made their way down the street. I followed the men with my scope, ready to fire if they tried anything. They were dressed in rugged camouflaged clothes with black masks covering their faces. These guys looked like the real deal.

I peered to my side for a second to see Ocus lying on the floor with Marcus and Christian kneeling over him, working as hard as they could to keep him alive.

"Attention up front, I'm going out." John said.

I turned back to the Innies who had stopped outside the building. I heard the whining of un-oiled hinges as one of the massive doors opened and John walked out. The man or woman who seemed to be the leader of the group walked towards John and they met halfway.

"John, let me hear." I told him.

John refused to turn on his audio recorder. I shifted nervously as the voices of the two were raised and the other Insurgents tightened their grip on their weapons.

"John, what is going on?" I questioned with my intent this time.

There was still no reply and John even took his helmet off and started to yell. The Insurgents stepped forward.

"One of you better get down to your gun." I muttered not taking into account Ocus dying on the floor next to me.

They both grunted and ignored me. The Insurgent and John had stopped yelling and John was about to put his helmet back on. One of the Insurgents' lifted his gun and fired a single round. The bullet passed quickly through John's head. I didn't wait for John's body to hit the floor before firing. My first bullet passed through the leader's head easily enough. The other men and women raised their guns at my window and started firing.

"Now! Get to your fucking guns!" I screamed as I pulled the trigger again.

The bullet slammed into the man's chest and sent him flying back. I quickly ejected and placed another bullet in the chamber. Firing again, another one fell to the ground limp. Christian had finally made it down to the ground floor and opened fire with the HMG. The final two Insurgents fell to the ground dead.

"Christian! Get back up here!" Marcus yelled franticly as he scrambled around his med-kit. Meanwhile I rushed down the stairs accidently nudging Christian as I went, which caused me to tumble down the stairs. I hit the wall at the end before standing up again and rushing down the small flight of stairs and then out the doors.

There lay John his helmet laid next to him. If he had left it on, maybe the bullet could have been stopped, maybe. I grabbed his helmet and through it as hard as I could back into the building, it bounced off the half opened door into the main hall.

I grabbed John's armour and begun to drag his heavy limp body back into the building. I knew he was dead; don't get me wrong I wasn't going to through another fit as I did during my first Campaign.

We were now without a leader. Two men short and it had already been hard enough holding this place with 4 men. The Army was expected to arrive at midnight, but it was only midday. Without John we were going to suffer a lot.

"John's dead." I shouted.

Neither of the two heard me from up stairs. I walked up a small amount of steps before collapsing. My legs had given way, and my body was shaking. I wasn't coping. I couldn't cope. Everyone that I was meeting was dying off, one by one. Soon Marcus and Christian will know the same fate. I knew Ocus wasn't going to make it. The amount of blood he had lost, and the fact we couldn't find the wound will be the cause of his death. They were wasting time and medical equipment on him.

"Fuck this!" I heard Marcus scream as he walked down the stairs.

He held a bandage soaked in blood. He through it to the floor with a thud and blood dripped out of it pooling on the step.

"Where's John I need to speak with him." Marcus grunted.

I didn't bother reply as he turned the corner and saw the limp body of John lying motionless on the floor with a pool of blood around the exit hole in the back of his head. He dropped to his knees.

"No, no, no. No this can't be happening. Not now." He moaned.

He then collapsed with exhaustion. His armour hit the floor with a dull thud. Christian stepped over Marcus's body. Looking at John's body he shrugged and took out a large flask from a small pocket under his shoulder armour. He took a very large swig from the bottle and coughed a bit as he downed the obviously strong drink.

"You want some?" He asked casually.

I shook my head. I didn't have the guts to drink right now. Later I would, but now I felt that if I drank anything I would end up chucking it up with the rest of my stomach.

"How can you not care? They're both dead and honestly, we will be soon." I asked him.

He shrugged again and took another swig from the flask. Wiping his mouth he said. "3 years ago, I was your age. Young and stupid. I signed up for the army. Simple enough, I was sent to fight to Insurgents. Now people were more likely to survive battles back then, so I grew close with my squad. Each of us knew each other secrets and fears, our lovers and our haters." He took another swig." Then one day they all died. That is why; I honestly don't give a shit about this war anymore. If I survive that's great. I'll go home and drink my life away, until then I'm going to shoot shit, human or alien. "

Christian walked by me and headed to his window. He grabbed a wooden chair on his way and dragged it all the way before stopping, putting his feet up on the window seal and taking out a cheap cigar.

_Thanks for staying with the story guys. _

_As of last week my summer holidays have started which means I will have a lot more time to write this. I know I have been very slack in the past but this is going to be different. I will be going to boarding school at the start of July though so there will be a slow down period of chapters. _

_Cheers,_

_SpartanHoplite_


	14. Struggles of War

_Hey guys just letting you know this a shorter than usual chapter. I now am going to boarding school and most of my down time was getting settled in._

_More chapters coming soon._

_February 17__th__, 2531_

The sun disappeared over the horizon. Night was falling and the snow was starting to fall again. A thin layer of snow was already forming on the road. Marcus and Christian were sitting by the fire in the middle of the room. Broken chairs served as out firewood. I sat by one of the windows and shivered as another gust of wind past through and cut me through to the bone. I had just started my shift, the 1-hour shift of watching over the frozen bodies strung over the road.

I would have heated myself with my armour but I needed to save my battery core

"2 hours. That's what they just sent through." Marcus chittered.

The army reinforcements were supposed to be here but ran into a Covenant patrol. A patrol that managed to halt their advance by 3 hours, a fucking patrol held up 500 men.

There was nothing on this cold night. Not even the Covenant were wasting their time attacking during this type of cold. This was the peace and quiet that we needed. We had lost two men in the space of 6 hours. I would never know why John knew the Insurgents or why he argued with them.

"I'm going to go do a ammo check." Marcus said.

That was the 5th time that he was going to check the ammo. Marcus wasn't coping with the deaths well. "No. Sit down." Christian butted in.

I didn't turn around from the window, but I made sure that I was listening; Christian was going to set him straight.

"Look you piece of ONI shit. We have fought only fought together as… wait, where is Qin?" Christian questioned looking around.

It hit me, no one had noticed. Qin had disappeared; after we were setting up he had wandered off. Why hadn't anyone noticed? The growing darkness added to the suspense.

"Did he stay outside? Was he stationed outside?" Christian asked with urgency.

Marcus shrugged his shoulders. I looked out into the growing blizzard as if I was going to spot him. Marcus didn't seem too concerned that one of his squad members was missing.

"Marcus, does ONI have anything to do with this?" I questioned.

Marcus in his now changed personality failed to keep the secret look that only an ONI agent would have. Looking like a bad actor he shook his head and looked around nervously. "No, no, no. ONI has nothing to do with this."

Christian glared at Marcus. That look could kill someone. "Tell us now." He aggressively grunted.

Marcus seemed to curl a bit trying tot protect himself form the glare. He knew he wouldn't talk his way out of this, you could see that look on his face, the look of an almost broken man.

"Fine, fine. Just don't tell any ONI agents or anyone for that matter." He told us. "Have you ever heard of the SPARTAN program?"

Christian and I both gave each other the look of awe. The elite of the elite, the soldiers that never die, they were loved by nearly everyone, and we hated them passionately.

"Of course we have heard about that bloody program. A bunch of freaks in high-tech shielded suits. Hell give us some of those suits and we will do the job better than any other Spartan could." Christian ranted.

"Well anyway, Qin, who is exceptional at almost every type of warfare, was modified like the Spartans. Although his modifications were less major and didn't change his physical appearance much, he is now 20 time stronger and has 10 times faster reaction time than the average ODST."

Christian had the look of disgust on his face. You could see that he hated the Spartans and anyone who was using more advanced armour or genetic modifications to become better than other soldiers on the battlefield.

"He was supposed to get armour upgrades as well." Marcus continued. "Nothing like the Spartans' armour, but it is stronger than the standard ODST BDU."

I subconsciously touched my cheek and felt the long canyon of emptiness where my cheek tissue should be. To be honest it wasn't that deep, once the blood had been cleared away it was a lot smaller than I thought. It would leave a long scar across my cheek, which would add to the scars I already had on my shoulder and thigh.

"So where did you send him?" I asked.

Marcus scratched the back of his head nervously. "We sent him North-East to where one of the largest Covenant bases on the planet."

Christian let out what was a mix between a grunt and a growl. "What else, I can see you are holding something back, bastard.

"Well, it's classified." Marcus stuttered.

Christian stood up. Marcus made the effort to stand up and face him, yet he was cut short. Christian placed his hand on Marcus's shoulder and shoved him back down onto his chair. "Speak." He grunted aggressively.

"Our mission here was useless. This building and its power plant were shut down years before the start of the war. We only came here because it was the closest non-glassed area that could give us an excuse for an ODST team, one with Qin in it, to land and dig in. We even used our contacts in the Rebels to organize the attack in the street so it would give Qin the perfect opportunity to escape."

I got up and walked up to the sitting Marcus. He looked up at me before I punched him making his head recoil to the side. "That's for my face asshole." I turned away and waited for Marcus to turn his head back. I then turned around quickly and smashed him in the nose. There was a satisfying snap as his nose broke. The force made his chair fall backwards and hit the ground with Marcus clutching his nose, falling with it. "And that is for Ocus."

I went over to my back, which lay by the wall and felt around inside of it. It took some time for me to find the box of Sweet William Cigars. I took one out and placed it in my mouth. I had pre-cut them before we dropped. Placing it in my mouth, I took out my old fashion lighter that I had had since Levosia. I flipped it open and covered the flame with my hand while lighting the cigar.

"We're fucked then." I said taking the cigar out of my mouth. "If this mission is as secret as you make it to be. That means there is no help actually coming for us. I checked on maps, there was no army base near this location, before or after the invasion. We have been left here to die, so you ONI cunts could get a set of armour." I placed the cigar in my mouth. "I would kill you right now if I didn't need you, but I do. You are no longer acting leader of this squad." I looked at Christian. "Take Marcus's comm set. Call up Captain Howard and tell him to get a Pelican here at once."

"Alright, time to get out of this fucking freezing weather." Christian said as he grabbed Marcus's helmet.

I heard the snap as the comm set was removed from Marcus's helmet and then a second click as Christian put it in his own. Marcus sat in his chair as rocked forwards and backwards slowly. He seemed to be good in combat and in combat medicine, yet his mind was broken.

"Just static. I can't get even a beep from any of the ships or unit in the area. I could try civilian channels if you wanted." He said.

I nodded at him and had a look in a broken mirror. The look didn't suit me. I was too talk and not naturally big enough for the cigar. Maybe a cigarette would look better.

I looked back over at Christian who was taking his helmet off. "Nothing." He said plainly dropping the helmet to the floor.

I turned away from both Christian and the mirror and looked outside. We couldn't call anyone for help and we couldn't stay and fight. We were going to run out of ammunition and provisions before help would be sent. We could leave, but where would we go? We didn't know the landscape. Maybe if Vlad was still alive, he knew this planet like the back of his hand. "Qin!" I shouted sub-consciously.

"What?" Christian asked, looking up from his holo-pad.

I shook my head and turned back to the window thinking. Qin was now in one of the largest Covenant camps on the planet, but the assault from the Navy must have taken out large chunks of it. My thoughts were cut off as static filled the room. It was coming from every single radio, in every single helmet. I turned to grab mine but Christian was already there and threw it too me.

Catching the helmet I slung it over my head and clicked it into place. The lights flickered a bit before all the images became clear. I was getting 3 day old news reports and I had an old letter open from Mackey. I swept them aside into their folders and corners before opening up the radio frequency. The signal was close and I was checking every single channel that was close to the one that I was currently on.

"22.34!" Christian shouted across the room.

I changed it quickly and the words started to become clearer. "This is OD… Corporal Lan… requesting assistance in the… grid 24577832. Out."

"That's on a loop." I said while viewing the sound on my main screen. "He recorded this recently though, last ditch effort."

"They aren't too far from here. Maybe 2 hour walk, give or take 15 minutes." Christian also mentioned quickly.

"That is also the direction of where the Covenant attack force came from the first time." I said as I was pulling up different maps and weather charts on my screen. "The worst of the weather has just hit them."

"We could go now and move with the weather in front of us. Giving us cover from the front."

"Though what is our return plan? Are we leaving for good or are we going to bring them back here."

"Let's leave here completely, no need wasting energy going back and forth. The rebels or Covenant might take up this town while we are gone."

"What happens if they have injured or they need to rest? We don't know if they have been trekking from say… Helenburg 150 kilometres down south. We could leave Marcus here anyway. It's not like he's going to be much help in his current condition."

"Fine, the plan works out. We take more ammo and a few more provisions so that they can eat on the way if they have come from Helenburg or further."

With that Christian and I closed all maps and what ever programs we were using and went over to the small room in the corner where we kept our ammo. I grabbed a bunch of mags for my MA5 and planned to take the remainder of my rifle ammo with me incase of any long-range encounters that would increase I rate of survival.

Christian's load-out was a bit different with a lot more ammo for his trigger-happy way of war. He was also carrying the provisions that we were taking for the soldiers.

"Ready?" I asked.

He looked around his body tapping on things to count them off as he went. With a final nod I opened the large door of the building and walked out into the cold morning.

* * *

Something was different about the air. It smelt a lot more like gunpowder and warmed up slightly. That didn't matter though, it was cold and that was the worst and most important part.

We had been walking for about an hour and were still a fair distance from where the message had been sent. We hadn't run into any Covenant but had seen several banshees heading North towards where the fleet was deciding the final battle for the planet. Then there were us, just little men in suits of armour trying to survive.

Every step we took was a struggle as the snow was starting to rise above our ankles. We couldn't feel the cold feeling of the frozen water as we dragged our legs, which were nice at least. The warmth disappeared as you traveled up my body, my torso had a chill to it and then when you hit my arms came the coldest feeling that I had felt in my whole life. My hands were stiff and I had to keep moving my gun around to keep them warm. Further up my neck and head were pretty warm with the internal heating set to the highest setting.

"For fuck sake. These ODSTs are in tough shit right now." Christian said.

"Amen to that. We sat out the worst of the weather, can't imagine what they are going through right now." I said.

The snow was getting thicker with every step. We had our radios at full broadcast with a simple ping to send our position to any friendly unit. The Covenant used different frequencies anyway so we weren't at any risk of getting caught up in a firefight, or so I thought.

The first rounds whizzed over our heads. The unique sizzling sound as the plasma burned through the air rang through my ears. I feel to the ground, my exposed hands drowning in the cold snow. I picked up my MA5 and started to fire in the general direction of the Covenant. I emptied a magazine and pulled it out before realizing that the Covenant weren't firing anymore.

I now turned my attention to Christian who had done the same as I had and dropped to the ground. He had realized the stop in the firing before I had and hadn't even raised his gun. He shrugged his shoulders as he looked back at me through his polarized visor.

"This is Jasper Team. Send location over." A voice said over the radio.

I knelt down on one knee and opened my map. "This is…" I had no idea what our call sign was. I couldn't use my old one as I felt that had too much sentimental value towards Vlad even though I didn't really know him. "This is Percy Team, over. Grid location is 24577845."

There was a brief silence before we saw silhouettes walk out of the fog. They were ODSTs. With a sigh of relief I lowered my gun, but only slightly. The ODSTs' body armour was charred and black. Several of them had bloodstains running down the chest and arms. In their hands was Covenant weaponry. These guys were the real deal; I wanted to be one of them. Then all those feelings vanished as the group grew. There seemed to be two ODST groups but the second was more beaten up. Their armour was new but had the early stains of war on them. This group was carrying stretches, two of them. In total there was 8 fit ODSTs' that may have minor wounds. Two of them were closed to death, and I couldn't do anything about it.

An ODST walked forward towards me. The bright yellow shoulder pad proved his rank as a Lieutenant. I saluted quickly and brought my hand down to meet his handshake. We both turned off the polarization in our helmets and looked each other in the eyes, sizing each other up. He was defiantly winning as he had the look of a man who had been fighting for 20 years straight. I have no idea what he saw in me, nor did I want to know.

"Sergeant Drastly, Sir. I think we got your message." I said.

He nodded. "Aye, that was our message. Glad you took the time to come. Lieutenant Boyd." He had a smooth Irish accent, not Earth though.

I took an obvious look at his wounded. "We have somewhat fortified shelter back at a town just North-East of here. We have enough ammo to last us a while but food and first aid is a problem."

"Cheers, that would do nicely. We need the rest; we've come all the way Helenburg, sent on an ONI mission." He nodded to one of the wounded. "That's our ONI guy, and we have another guy who had gone all the way to a Covenant base North-East of here."

I shook my head. "We're here for the same reason. We left our ONI guy back at the camp. He's shaken up though. We lost two good men yesterday in a single hour."

The man bowed his head. "I'm sorry. They must have been good men."

I knew he meant well, but I didn't know either Ocus or John too well anyway. "I didn't know them very well. I've never had a team long enough to know anyone very well."

"I see, you're an unlucky one." He said.

"Unlucky one?"

"You are the only survivor of a team, yes? That makes you an unlucky one, someone who has seen the deaths of his squad mates and been put with another."

I nodded. "Well we best get moving. The weather seems to be clearing up and we don't know when the Covenant are going to start moving again."

He hummed in acknowledgement. We both turned back to our teams or partner in my case and started back the way we came.

I walked back to Christian who had been standing patiently. "What you guys talk about?" He asked.

"Oh, you know, just the daily news, the weather, how our family's were going. That type of thing."

Christian chuckled. "I'm guessing we are taking these guys back to camp and then formulating a plan to get off this rock?"

"It seems like it. I'm not in command anymore, not that I was anyway. The bloke over there is a Lieutenant so I'm back in my place as a grunt taking orders." I pointed to the Lieutenant.

"Ok, sounds good. Maybe now we might actually get of the planet not in body bags." He joked.

"Haha, very funny. I almost died of laughing."

He chuckled again killing the conversation.

There was a silence again as we continued to walk. There was the quiet murmuring of the other group of soldiers as they talk amongst themselves. The crunching sound of our boots compacting the snow echoed slightly throughout the empty wasteland.

"Why are they here?" Christian asked breaking the silence between us.

"Same reason we are. Member went missing and the ONI guy who is now that other guy on the stretcher spilled the beans. That member just happened to be going to the same base as Qin was. Obviously Qin isn't as special as we thought."

Christian nodded.

"Incoming!" The shout came from behind us.

Without thinking I dropped to the ground. There was silence for a few seconds before several whooshes passed over us. "Clear!" Came the second call. We all slowly knelt up and looked into the distance where a squadron of banshees was flying.

"That was close." One of the other ODSTs' joked.

Then I spotted the banshees turning around. Christian and the Lieutenant had seen it too. "Get down!" Christian screamed.

I took my rifle off my back and checked its chamber. "Christian! I need to borrow your shoulder!" I yelled over the confusion. Christian looked back at me funny before he saw my rifle and nodded. I walked up to him and rested the barrel between two groves in his plating. I looked down the scope. There was no time to adjust, this shot had to be a mix of skill and luck. With that in mind I placed the stock against my shoulder hard and fired at the closest banshee.

The round seemed to hit the banshee's stabilizer on its wing. The banshee lost a little altitude before spinning straight towards the ground and exploding into a ball of green and purple flames. I turned my attention to the second banshee. I fired quickly, my first 2 shots missing. The third shot pulled off some sort of magic and as soon as the round hit, the elite that was flying the banshee flew out the back from the force of the bullet. The banshee plummeted and exploded in as much glamour as the first one.

Another quick look down the scope and I was satisfied that these were just a scouting mission of sorts. "Clear!"

I stood up, clearing my rifle and taking the ammo out before putting the safety on. There was no sound from the group behind us. I see a plasma sword break through one of the injured men. "Cloak!" The Lieutenant yelled.

From the ground I grabbed my MA5 and started to fire in the direction of the sword. In all the confusion and hail of bullets, the elite managed to sneak around the third squad and kill or injure all of them. A bullet from Christian connected with the elite's head causing it to fall limp to the ground.

"Ahhhh! Jesus fucking Christ!" The scream had come from one of the ODST's from the third squad. One of his legs had been cut clean off and blood was pouring out staining the pristine white snow below. Both remaining squads turned away fearful of puking within our own helmets. I took mine off just incase. The Lieutenant then took off his and we both gave each other the look that he wasn't going to make it. I nodded, knowing what I had to do.

I walked over to the man and discretely took my pistol from its holster. I knelt by the screaming man and grabbed his hand. "Hey! Look at me!" I yelled at him over his constant ear piercing screaming. He managed to keep it to a whimper. "You're going to be all right, ok? We have a pelican coming to get you." I said emotionlessly. With that I brought the pistol from behind my leg and placed it on his temple, pulling the trigger.

Blood and brain flew out the other side with the bullet. It was all so emotionless and quick. It seemed inhumane. I wiped my gun in the snow cleaning it of the staining red blood. Placing it in the holster again I walked away back towards Christian and the front of the group. The one remaining member of third squad was frozen in shock, unable to comprehend the execution of his old squad mate. The members of the more seasoned second squad knew it had to be done but still didn't like it. I came across the Lieutenant who gave me a nod and placed a hand on my shoulder. I was beginning to understand the struggles of being a leader in this war. The mere fact that most of the time we would be unable to get a pelican to save our dying friends, or that because of the fact that we were ODSTs' that we would be given the missions that had to be done with little chance of return such as this one.

I placed my helmet back on and we started off towards the town once again.


	15. All Gone

The frost-covered bodies' lay where we had left them 4 hours ago. The town was quiet as the sun started its short journey down and the moon had started to show on the horizon. My tired body drew the strength to walk that extra bit further without dropped my gun to my side. We were aware of the fact that with the clearing weather the Covenant might have had another go at taking the town. The strategic importance I had all but forgotten now.

"How many Covenant?" One of the men asked.

I didn't bother looking back as I stepped over a grunt's body. "Don't know, we just shot and they dropped."

I hadn't realized that I made the sentence rhyme and made it seem really cliché until my message box pinged inside my helmet. I opened it to find a message from Christian. '_Good 1 m8, u a poet or something now?' _ I sent a quick message back. _ 'Fk u m8, I do wht I wnt' _ -before I turned my attention back to the town.

We approached the power building and the bodies were now starting to really pile up. Some of the most gruesome kills were left here as arms and legs were left off in different places. With the sun disappearing behind the low buildings was our message to get inside soon before the temperature dropped even more.

With a hard push I opened both the doors to the power building. They hit the walls with a loud bang that echoed. The men came in a dropped their stuff around the smoldering fire.

"Marcus!" I shouted.

There was now reply. The men didn't know whom I was calling to, nor did they care. "Marcus you little shit, come out!" Christian followed up.

"He probably asleep upstairs or something." I said taking off my helmet and shaking my long hair. "I'll get him. Just start a fire and try and board up the windows."

Christian nodded and went to join the other men. Meanwhile I headed up the marble stairs. I just turned the corner when I found Marcus lying there with a gun in his limp hand. His mouth was open and I could see where the bullet had passed through under his chin and up through his head and out into the wall. Blood and brain splatter was on the peeling wallpaper. His armour had been covered with the spray and then the gushing blood from his face; it was now dry and stained. Marcus had given in, his emotions flooded him and he couldn't handle it.

I grabbed his legs and dragged him back downstairs his armour hitting each step hard. The room, which had been alive with men walking around counting ammunition, preparing fires and making barricades, was now quite as the men watched me drag him down the stairs. They saw the wound and knew what happened. I could tell the Lieutenant had seen this before, his eyes were fixed on the body but his mind was somewhere else. The other men had either looked away or looked down in respect. Christian just sat down in a chair and took out his flask, raised it slightly and then took a large swig before putting it away again. I moved his body into the small room in the corner of the building where Ocus's and John's body lay as well. There wasn't room for any more bodies without having to pile them on top of each other.

I closed the door to the room and walked back out into the foyer where everyone was waiting just standing around staring at me. The only two people not looking were Christian and the Lieutenant. Death loved this war and the fact that he or she was reveling in this silence made me sick.

"Alright boys, let's make sure we don't end up in the same closet. Let's move it assholes!" The Lieutenant yelled.

The men started to get on with their jobs. I gave him a nod for a thank you, which he returned. I sat down against the wall and clipped off my shoulder pad releasing the stress on my old wound.

I watched out of the broken window as the last glimpse of the sun for the today disappeared. Then with a piece of wood and a rusty bent nail that window was covered up for the night. I stood up grabbing my shoulder piece but not putting it back on. Walking over to my sleeping corner I dropped the piece onto my bag.

The first couple of shards slammed into the window frame and exploded covering my exposed face, hands and shoulder in shards of wood and pushed me to the floor.

"Contact!" I screamed hitting the floor with a thump.

I pushed myself off the ground and grabbed my MA5 from my corner. Crouching at the same window that had been shot at I returned fire into the darkness. The other men were slower to react, not expecting an attack to come during the night more so during the early morning hours of the next day. I fired short bursts in an arch trying to hit something until my clip ran out. I pulled it out and shoved another one in but paused before firing. There was complete silence, the other men had finally taken positions at the other windows and two men were even up stairs at my old sniping position. They themselves were using BR55's, marksmen of the squad.

Then the sound of Covenant weapons firing started and grew. We all flinched when it first started, expecting to be the target except we weren't. The fire grew heavier and heavier, the whoosh of banshees speeding past roared through the young night sky. Wraiths firing in unison could be heard from the side of town.

"This is the… breaking ground radio silence. We have lost altitude and are taking fire from the main force of retreating Covenant. All units register, assist and engage." The message came over all our radios.

I looked at the Lieutenant. He gave me the same look, it was clear that he wanted me in charge. My house, my rules, really. I thought for a second. That voice over the radio was a A.I. and had a posh English accent. It was Upsir, which it was the Hummingbird.

"This is Sergeant Matthew Drastly of the UNSC Hummingbird. With me is the only surviving member of ODST squad one, Sergeant Christian Richards; also with us is a complement of ODST's commanded by Lieutenant Boyd." I said over the radio.

With a spin of my finger in the air signaling that we were moving out the group grabbed as much as possible and stuffed it in their bags. Then came provisions, we didn't take them all as if we saved the Hummingbird it meant me had a ride out of this shithole.

I reattached my shoulder plate and threw my bag and rifle over my back. I turned my heating on to the lowest setting as I tightly secured my helmet to my body armour.

"Let's move out." I said as I pulled on the door handle.

1234567890

"Setup your marksmen on that building there. It has the best view on the Covenant. I will setup on that building there with quick access to the ground. I will provide the main spotting support. I need to take command of the ground force that will take out the tanks and the majority of the Covenant force." I told Boyd.

I turned on my radio. "We need to move hard and fast. The Hummingbird had been taking fire for 20 minutes now and it won't take much more. The tanks and banshees are primary targets, and then come the plasma emplacements. Remember 'Razor' means danger and stop, 'Dagger' means all clear. Other calls will be standard. "

The whole team acknowledged and with that we split. Me by myself, the two marksmen and then the larger ground force of 4 men. I traveled by rooftops jumping between them hiding behind air-condition units incase of Covenant sentries. The marksmen took a safer but slower approached through buildings and sometimes on rooftops. The ground team moved slowly through the maze of side streets avoiding detection as best as they could.

As I jumped buildings the rooftop door opened and two chatting Jackals emerged. I put away my pistol and drew my knife from my ankle. Peering around the corner of an air duct I spotted the two Jackals. They were standing near the edge watching the street below. I brought up the trackers on my HUD and saw that the ground team was about to turn the corner right into their line of vision.

"Razor." I whispered over the radio.

Thankfully the trackers stopped as they reached the corner. I looked again to see the Jackals still talking in the same place. I closed my eyes and wished for luck before turning the corner crouching as low as I could with my knife ready. As I drew closer I came up with my plan it was quick and easy. When I within arms reach of the two Jackals I stood up. I had never stood next to a Jackal before, but they were actually slightly taller than me standing up.

The Jackals fell quiet as they felt my presence. They didn't have time to react before my foot was in the back of one of them sending it to the street 10 stories below. The other had its neck slit and its body dragged away and pushed behind a cooling unit.

"Dagger." I said.

On my HUD I saw the trackers moving again. They came around the corner and upon turning my night-vision on I could see them walking down the road with weapons raised ready for anything.

I turned away and continued on my way through the half destroyed apartments and offices. I ducked in using the walls as cover, not only from the Covenant but also from the bone cutting wind that still managed to find it's way into my armour. I would have to get my armour sealed up by the techs back on the ship. You never know when you might need to jump out of a pelican in orbit.

I walked out onto a rooftop and that is when it started to rain. Rain. There wasn't supposed to be rain, it was too cold. I looked up and saw that the water was coming from a building above me, which had obviously had a water pipe broken. I moved away from the pipe, which was now spewing out contaminated water.

I entered the next building by climbing over wooden planks that had obviously been placed down by the past army or marine unit that had been placed in this town to defend.

I entered another abandoned house, this one more intact. From what I could see this would have been the HQ for the unit here. On the walls I could see ripped maps and supply reports. I stopped as swept off bowls and eating utensils from the table to find a broken knife, it was completely steel and the tip was missing. The rest of it was stuck into the table.

84th Marine Division.

They were the best defensive unit that had graced the UNSC up until now. They had proved themselves against the Innies during battles all over the sector protecting buildings, towns, and even cities if the whole division with heavy weapons. They were somewhat of a legend unit they commanded some respect amongst the UNSC but it is mainly based in marine units. The tradition of leaving full steel broken knife at every HQ before they leave had become tradition among the commanding officers' of the division.

I grabbed the knife and pulled it from the table. I decided to keep it as a souvenir and placed it in my other boot. I passed through another doorframe that had splinters littered all around it. The room I walked into had the windows boarded up with empty shells on the window seals. I looked around the battle-ravaged room. There were scorch marks up the walls and dried purple and red blood on the floor and walls. The 84th had obviously held the position due to the knife, bit it was apparent that this was at a cost.

My thoughts were broken as another burst of fire came from further within the city. I remembered my task of saving my ship. I got moving again, faster this time to make up for lost time even if it made me more venerable. I began jumping in and out of have destroyed buildings and walked along wooden boards that had been placed by previous troops.

I could see the tip of my target building over the top of an apartment building. I looked down at my armour-clad thighs and said a quite sorry. I broke into full sprint towards the building jumping across roofs. I quickened my pace as I got to a flat roof. Roads on all 4 sides surrounded my target building. It stood as the HQ for a ground to space shipping business that was abandoned after the Covenant attacked.

I locked my boots and told my suit to brace for a hard landing on my whole body. I felt the suit around me expand and then tighten as seeped into my armour pieces and then harden for impact. I had done this before when I was Qin but I was under pressure. Fuck it. I can make it.

I reached the edge of the building and jumped. I looked down and saw 2 wraiths and a large amount of Covenant. I looked up but didn't have enough time to duck my head as it smashed into the metal support of the floor. My feet went straight into glass and I did a complete back flip.

I blacked out for a few seconds. The gel wasn't meant for my head and therefore it wasn't as protected. I felt dizzy and as if I needed to puke, I took off my helmet and lay down. I pushed my self up onto my elbows and knees. My helmet was in front of my face there was a crack across the cheek. It wasn't damaging, it was just the surface and wouldn't affect it if I got hit. I would still have the same amount of time to take my helmet off in the case of a hit.

I felt my nose and pain went off all over my face, it was broken. Oh well, I told myself. I grabbed my helmet again and stood up. The glass might have made the Covenant suspicious, but glass always breaks during times like this.

I unattached my MA5 from my lower back and shook my head, trying to get my vision back. I walked towards the middle of the building where there would be a stairwell up to the executive helipad that had only been finished a month before the invasion. The building was only 60 stories high though. This city wasn't even recognized as a city on maps, but as a large town.

I started up the steps going two at a time to be quick. I occasionally looked up the middle of the stairwell to check my progress but then also down to check if the Covenant were checking on me.

"This is Drastly. I'm in the target building climbing the stairs." I said, the echo copying me.

It was about 10 seconds before the response came form the ground team. "Boyd here, we are splitting up and moving into positions.

"Marksmen here, we are set up and watching. They seem to be firing at random intervals. The force is growing and it looks like they are going to hit when the Hummingbird flies over us."

"Alright, everything seems to be going to plan. We get set up and we wait for the Hummingbird. Therefore we can catch the Covenant with the most of units in the square."

I cut my radio and quickened my pace. I burst through the roof and was relieved for the rush of cold air that hit my sweat-covered skin. I moved quickly towards the north edge of the building that overlooked the square. I lay down on the deepening snow, I turned the heat in my suit up a bit to melt the snow around me and to make sure my body could move fast enough if something went wrong.

I took my rifle off my back. I pushed the bi-pod legs and placed them just behind the edge of the roof. The wind was stronger up here, and if I were going to be making long shots then I would have to take it into account, luckily the square wasn't far enough for the wind to effect the shot too much.

"I'm here. Ground team?"

"We are in position. Taken out a few perimeter guards. We better get moving soon, they will realize that something is wrong." Boyd said

"Have they moved most of their heavy weapons into the square?"

"Yes, the Hummingbird will be over head in a minute."

I was surprised I couldn't hear the Hummingbird coming. The huge engines should have been deafening. Yet there was nothing. Then all of a sudden I heard a massive smashing sound. I looked up from my gun to see the front of the Hummingbird smashing through one of the glass-clad buildings that dotted the large town. I could see huge panes of glass tumble towards the ground along with smashed steel beams. The ship was being harassed by banshees on all sides, Longswords' were fighting back but seemed ineffective in atmosphere against the more agile banshees as they turned around and strafed the Hummingbird.

Most of the point defense guns and there was a large hole in the top part of the ship. That whole entire engineering deck would have been taken out. I focused on the square where all the Covenant forces that were previously resting, had taken up positions on rooftops with their heavy weapons and other small arms.

"This is the UNSC Hummingbird we are taking heavy fire from airborne and ground Covenant forces. We have lost most of the power to the second engine. All forces register, assist and engage Covenant forces within the area." Upsir's voice boomed over my radio.

The Covenant started to opened fire on the underside of the Hummingbird shredding its armour. "Hold!" I shouted.

The sound of the ships' engines was almost getting too loud for my helmet to handle. "Hold!" I was waiting for all the Covenant forces to fire before we engage to make sure that we took them out quickly. I could see the ship's armour falling to the ground in small pieces as they drew nearer and nearer to the weak thin metal shell of the ship within.

"2 seconds, on my shot." I finally said.

I secured my gun and held it tightly. I didn't have a lot of ammo left on my rifle so I needed to fire accurately. I aimed at exhaust port of a Wraith tank that had somehow been lifted onto a rooftop of an apartment building. The exhaust port had to be hit dead on or the bullet would bounce off and everything would be fucked, we didn't have any anti-armour weapons.

"Now!" I screamed as I pulled the trigger.

The gun recoiled into my shoulder; luckily the padding in my armour took the brunt of it. The bullet hit the tank before the other teams had started to fire. With a sudden flash the Wraith disappeared in a purple fireball. Then the havoc began. The sniper team worked wonders against the smaller emplacements as Grunts dropped left and right. I went into another lull of pure sniping, not being able to control myself but my body just repeating to aim and fire reloading when needed.

"This is Sergeant Matthew Drastly, in command of both ODST's from the UNSC Hummingbird and a complement of ODST's under the command of one Lieutenant Boyd." I said over the radio.

I continued to fire. I even managed to snag a banshee that was stupidly flying a straight line for a little too long than what would have been safe.

"Sergeant Drastly! It is good to hear that you are alive. With two full squads at your command you should be able to easily dispatch the Covenant forces." Upsir replied sounding a bit more like himself.

I didn't reply for a few seconds. "John, Ocus, and Marcus are dead Upsir. Qin had abandoned us. It's just Christian and I now."

There was no reply. The main intensity of the battle had passed; most of the remaining Covenant forces were disarrayed and confused. I took out some of the remaining Elites that were trying to gain control over the situation.

I had let my guard down as I let out a deep breath. I hadn't had a good sleep in ages. I needed proper food, and heating. My body wasn't reacting well to war. I heard the battle scream of a lesser Elite from behind me. I managed to roll away in time as his energy sword cut into the concrete landing pad. I drew my pistol and started to fire off in all directions. I managed to hit the Elite once causing its shield to buckle but not completely drop.

A pelican lined up behind the Elite and opened fire with its auto-cannon. The Elite was shredded from behind and dropped dead in front of me. I reached to grab the rolling energy sword but I didn't reach it into time before it dropped off the edge of the building.

I shrugged. There will be another time during this war to get one. I was sure of that. I raised a hand of thanks to the Pelican pilot. I walked back over to my rifle. Holstering my pistol I picked up the gun and walked to where the Pelican was resting its bay door on the edge of the landing pad.

The bay door closed. I walked up to the cockpit and took the empty co-pilot seat. "We got all your stuff in the back Sir. We took it out because we thought your room was going to be destroyed." I looked back and saw that under a row of seats was two large metal boxes with my rank and name on them.

"Cheers, is my room still intact though?" I joked.

"Nope, the whole section got blasted out after a Covenant boarding party prematurely blew their bomb. The think walls contained the blast and most of its damage. So the ship is fine." The pilot told me.

I remained silent and just nodded.

Yet as people say, the pilot jinxed the ship. As he said the ship was fine, a large purple streak appeared through the clouds and slammed into the top of the Hummingbird. The force of the hit alone knocked out the struggling engine and forced it to ground in the middle of the large town. I watched in awe, my mouth dropped. Within a few seconds there was a large orange and yellow explosion as the ship's ammunition exploded.

My attention turned to Christian and the other men down in the city below. "Christian! Boyd! Report!" I shouted.

Christian replied immediately. "I here, what the fuck just happened?"

"I don't know! Where is Boyd and his squad?" I shouted again.

"This is Boyd." Came the coughing reply. "I was safe on a rooftop, I don't know where my team is!" He said frantically.

I checked the markers on my map. They were gone. The ship had gone straight into the building where the snipers were and the rest of the squad had been in the square where the ship exploded. They were all dead.

The next ship to appear through the clouds was a Covenant frigate, checking its kill. Then suddenly 3 MAC rounds smashed through ship and it exploded in mid-air. I slumped in my chair. My home was gone Mackey was gone. Everyone that I had known on the ship were now gone.

The pilot next to me also had the look of complete surprise on his face. Yet I could tell that he wasn't a permanent member of the Hummingbird's crew. Not many pilots were, they never understood the attachment people got to ships. I shouldn't have been complaining. I had only been on the ship for about 6 months including leave. Nothing on there was mine, my name was known but only for being an only survivor, not for fighting off hundreds of Covenant.

Taking off my helmet with one hand I grabbed my knife with the other and started to engrave all my latest kills of this campaign. I didn't think about anything else while the pilot landed and picked up Christian and Boyd. They sat equally quiet in the back doing their own things.

The pilot sealed the Pelican and took us into orbit. He swerved dodging purple armour plating and the occasional Titanium-A armour plating from UNSC ships. We had obviously demolished their fleet and taken the rest of the planet back. For most of the sailors this campaign had been drawn out over 5 years of constant battle. For me it had only been 6 months and I had had enough.

We arrived on the deck of the UNSC Musashi. The carrier was the return point for many pilots and ground forces who were either stationed on the ship or whose ships had been destroyed. I walked out of the Pelican dragging the two metal boxes behind me. My helmet was attached to my waist. Unlike on the Hummingbird, no one seemed to give a crap about us. There was so much noise of everyone trying to get to another ship to go back to Earth or Reach for leave.

I dropped the boxes in the middle of the hanger and lay down on them. I was about to put my helmet back on to dampen the sound before I heard my name. "Matthew!" There was a slight Asian twang to it, Qin.

I stood up again and saw him walk over in his huge bulky grey armour like he was better than me. He was smiling and looked like he hadn't even fired a bullet.

"Sorry about leaving you guys. I was planning of bringing the Pelican back to pick you guys up but I knew you would find a way out." He laughed.

I looked at him sternly; behind me Christian was giving him the same look.

"Where is the rest of the squad?" He asked.

I said nothing again. "I can order you to answer me you know. I am a Lieutenant. So answer me."

That was the last straw. I pulled my pistol from its holster and lifted it to Qin's eye level. I let him look at it for a second before pulling the trigger. The whole hanger went quiet. The only sound was the contact of the casing as it hit the metal floor. Then the dull thud as Qin hit the floor with a hole where his eye used to be. I put the pistol back in my holster, placed my helmet on and lay down on top of my boxes.

* * *

_February 20__th__, 2531_

My wrists felt heavy as the large handcuffs weighed them down. This was not how I was wanting to spend my leave, but I guess it is what you get for killing another ODST or an "irreplaceable asset" as some Admiral or what ever put.

I was sitting in the same ONI building that I was trained at. This time, people shot me glances as they recognized me from before. The looks on their faces resembled shock and awe. Many of the people who work in the building had never seen battle, not even videos of it due to censors. This was the first time they had seen a soldier that was fresh from battle, unclean both physically and mentally.

I stared back at them with my deep blue eyes letting them know that the horrors of facing the Covenant. I even began to enjoy it a bit, the looks on their faces, the awkwardness as they started to walk faster than usual to escape my stare. Then the guards came, private security.

Each of the guards grabbed one of my shoulders and lifted me up. They both had shock batons ready in their free hands. I chuckled, they were afraid I was going to kill these guys too.

"Good to see you again." I said to the guard.

He ignored me and made a threatening gesture to his shock baton. I already knew what I was going to do. We stepped into an elevator and we were shot up without pressing a button.

I smiled to myself. With a quick whip, I shot my head backwards and smacked the guard in the face before whipping my arms around and hitting the other guard in the neck. They both collapsed onto the floor. I knew that there were at least four cameras inside the elevator, but I didn't care.

The elevator door opened on an all too familiar floor. To my surprise there were no guards coming to get me. I walked myself down the door less corridor before reaching the one door in the middle. I didn't bother knocking. I opened the door and saw the Colonel sitting in his wheelchair. On the large floor to ceiling windows I saw a video of what looked like the Colonel in his younger years. In his hand were a pistol that I couldn't recognize and a grenade. I watched as a large caliber round went through his crouched back. The video stopped.

"I was once like you. A soldier. A fighter. A hero." He said turning the screens off and turning around. "I don't wear my medals now. It feels wrong. I shouldn't have gotten them, my dead friends should have. Do you want to know why I have been trying to kill you all this time?" He asked.

Just when I thought nothing could shock me, he hit me hard. He just confessed to trying to kill me. He smiled. "I knew you would be shocked. All this time you thought I was trying to kill you, but hearing it from my own mouth still comes as a shock."

He grabbed a cigar from his draw. He offered it to me but I was still too shocked to reply to anything.

"When I was shot in the back and I lost all feeling to my legs, an ODST named John Adams who was exactly like you decided to leave me behind." He took a puff. "Like you he was put in charge because our leader had been killed during a drop. No one voted but he stepped up by trying to make the best decisions. He meant well by it, but we had always had a grudge. I was second in command, my pod was hit by the smallest of shrapnel and I was put 5 kilometres off course." He took a longer puff this time. "When I arrived no one would listen too me, I was old for a soldier at that time, 30 I was. This man was 18 and had just had his first child. Much better looking than me, but hadn't seen an inch of combat."

"How do I fit into this?" I asked.

"After coming back from combat you shot your own squad mate, a squad mate that you were imprisoned with. We forced both Corporal Richards and Lieutenant Boyd to write honest combat reports. After reading them, HIGHCOM wanted to given you medals and broadcast you medal ceremony live. They wanted you to give speeches and get people to enlist in the UNSC. ONI intervened; we knew you couldn't handle it. Yet I no longer want to kill you ever since I read the part where you shot that wounded soldier. You like that man that left me to die knew what had to happen to try and let the rest of the squad survive. Something clicked within me and all of a sudden my hate for both you and the ODST disappeared. I hadn't been singled out of hate or bad luck, it happened because it had to be done and now I finally see that. Thank you."

Now my brain was dumbstruck. The Colonel had just thanked me. The man I hated, the man I blamed for the death of my first squad. Now 'I' realized that what he had done with my squad and myself was what happened all the time. We hadn't been sent to fight an unstoppable enemy for nothing. We had been sent to the ground because it was an area that needed to be defended, and we needed to create a distraction for Qin. Yet I still couldn't forgive Qin. I had forgiven Marcus when I found his body up against the wall. Yet when Qin greeted me back on the Musashi he acted if everything was all right and that was when I knew that I had to kill him. He might be the difference between us losing the war or winning, but I couldn't care less. I obviously wasn't going to last either at this rate.

I nodded at the Colonel. He now slid a case across the table. I could see through the glass top that it was a bronze star. My first medal. Well I had been mailed my purple hearts for my injuries sustained during my first campaign on Harvest. Yet here I was standing over the first medal that meant something. I took it off the table and nodded.

"I understand why you shot Qin. Everyone in the ONI division that was working with him understands. Even HIGHCOM showed some understanding. You were meant to still have a military trial that was to be dismissed by you needed to return to service, but truth be told we need ODSTs on the field. Not just you but every single ODST. So you got off free this time, but that doesn't mean you can go around shooting your squad-mates." The Colonel finished.

I saluted and left the room.

* * *

_April 2__nd__, 2531_

My knee kept shaking as the Pelican took off into the night sky. I had been assigned to a new ship. I had rented out a storage locker to put all my valuables into. Now with me were only my rifle, my MA5 and my pistol. I had a metal box just full of bullets pre-made for my rifle. I had even bought some more explosive rounds for an even larger discount from a shop on Reach. Around me was a bunch on new and old ODSTs. The new ones seemed to know each other quite well, while the older ones were either reading or sleeping. I was somewhere in the middle of that.

Within a few short minutes the door opened and we filed out. Now I was on an even smaller frigate that was on protection duty for some outer-colony named Roost. It was a popular holiday destination and couples often got married there. Apparently there was a UNSC small refitting station. There was already a small Army force on the surface that had entrenched the main space-elevator and cities. Also there were an additional two frigates that were to protect the small station that was said to have been mounted with a MAC gun. For a small planet it could hold its own against a small Covenant fleet if the defenses were used right.

What were we? I had no fucking idea. Quick reaction force maybe. We drop behind an attacking Covenant force on the ground. Or maybe the Marines and ODSTs were just on the ship because someone thought it would be a good idea to fully outfit a ship.

Whatever our purpose, I wouldn't be seeing any action soon. I knew that for a fact. The way things were looking the Covenant were jumping in areas around Harvest and we were on the other side of the Galaxy (not really). This would be a good time to think over the last year of my life. A time that I would rather forget, but I would remember forever.

While I was thinking, I had subconsciously moved my stuff to my room and I was now ready to get into Cryo. A long journey ahead of us, that will only feel like a second.


	16. Starting Again

_June 25__th__, 2531_

I had shorts on and a tank top while I was walking down one of the many beaches that Roost had to offer. The sun was just rising and I could feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. We had arrived nearly two months ago and nothing had happened. There was several times where ONI prowlers had sent reports that small fleets were jumping to unknown vectors. Then there was a slip space jump that was only a supply ship that had forgotten to log his journey back on Reach.

"Hey Matthew! Wait up!" Shouted one of the marines that were stationed on the ship with me.

I had made some 'friends' to pass the time. They meant well, but I couldn't help but be distant. Out of fear that they will die and I will have another hole in my life.

I stopped walking and turned around. Faking a smile I waved. "Hey!" I shouted back forgetting his name.

He jogged up to me. He was a body-builder that was for sure. He said to me that he was going to join the ODSTs but he loved the Marines. I tried to make him understand that they fell under the same branch of the military, but he had deep roots within the marines. I respected that.

"Why are you up so earlier?" He asked.

"Just going for a walk, think about things. You?" I replied.

"Ahh, you know, as always gym."

I nodded. I looked off into the distance and he could see something was wrong. I never told anyone that I had been deployed but by my scars it was obvious that I had been in a few sticky situations,

"Were you deployed on Harvest?" He suddenly asked.

I had given myself away with what they called the 1000-yard stare.

"Yea. Twice."

"You lost some friends?"

"All of them."

Christian and Boyd had been put in other teams on different ships. They thought it would be better for us all after the incident with Qin. I was also no allowed back on the UNSC Musashi unless it was completely necessary. Christian had been deployed a week after we split up, he was allowed t send me one message a month. While Boyd, we shook hands and left each other to our own things.

The marine didn't know what to say. It was awkward for him, but it shouldn't be. My problems shouldn't stop him from having a good day.

"What about you? You been deployed yet?" I asked.

"No, no. Just got out of training a month ago. This is my first posting, and I must say I am enjoying it." He replied with a smile.

I chuckled. "Enjoy it while you can man. Things turn pretty shitting on other deployments."

We came to the end of the beach and it lead to car park where a few surfers had parked their new mini-vans, some were just setting up and gave us both a look as we passed by. To them we were a reminder that the war was still going. We were a reminder that at anytime a Covenant fleet could jump into the system and glass this beautiful planet.

My phone rang; breaking the awkward glare we were giving the surfers. There were only a few people who had my new number for this planet, the few marines who most were still asleep, or my ODST squad mates. I lifted the phone fro my pocket to see an unknown ID calling me.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Sergeant Drastly you are to return to ship immediately. I have dispatched a pelican to pick you and your fellow marine up." The line cut.

It was the frigate's 'dumb' AI. It had no emotions and was used mainly for organizing the MAC gun and Archer missiles. I didn't know its name, nor did I care.

Within a minute a pelican came down just as the AI said. The back door opened and the marine and I walked in and sat down on the chairs. Although the break was nice, I lived for these moments when my heart stopped for a while and the adrenaline rushed.

The pelican, now safe of the surface hit the afterburners. The pilot was obviously under orders to be as fast as possible. This was a sign that this was urgent, something was going down.

I bent forward as we left the atmosphere; I still wasn't use to the light feeling after being under the affects of Gravity. My phone buzzed again, now I knew it was someone on the ship. No one planet side could call me when I had no service so the ship's sensors had to be responsible. I picked up.

"This is Captain Giroud." The man said with a stale accent. "We need you to command a squad of ODST's. The Covenant have discovered us, they are out of range of our MAC guns and they are sending boarding parties to the refitting station." He finished.

"Roger sir. What about the squad of ODSTs that were stationed on the ship at the time?"

"We sent them in but they were shot down by banshees. We need men in that station now!"

"Sir all due respect, but I am not going to be a second shot. I need to know that we will have Longsword cover going into the station."

The line went dead. I knew from that second that I wasn't going to get along with the Captain. I scowled and shoved my phone into my pocket. I looked up to see the marine looking at me. Asking me with his eyes 'is this it?'

I nodded back. His head bowed and he looked terrible. He wasn't mentally prepared for this.

I felt the afterburners die out and the Pelican slow down. Then came the feeling of gravity coming back as we entered the ship. I stood up, placed a hand on the marine's shoulder. "You'll do fine." He looked up at me a nodded. His face was red, he had been crying.

The bay door opened and I walked out. There were three men to greet me as I came out. One seemed to ONI based by the look of his black uniform while the others were just planners.

"We need you and your team to guard the main corridor. The station was designed after the war started and we realized that the Covenant could be bottlenecked during infantry battles. If you and your men can get there as quick as possible and manage to set up some of the heavier munitions we could win this engagement." The first planner said.

I nodded. "You talked about heavy munitions. Where would we find them and what type of munitions are we talking about?"

"They are in the armory, which is on our side of the main corridor. The Covenant cannot swing around because we have point defense guns that their fighters can't reach without endangering themselves."

"Alright, what about the Longsword protection I asked the Captain for?" I asked as we stepped into an elevator.

"What Longsword protection?" The second planner asked.

"Fucking great." I whispered. "Doesn't matter, I want the Pelican to use his afterburners all the way there. I don't care if this means more fuel. I don't want to die before I can fight back."

We stepped out of the elevator and the planners nodded and departed. All that remained was the ONI officer. "What can I do for you Mr. ONI?" I asked.

"There is an AI on the station. You will be supplied with explosives. Rig them to blow if you cannot hold the station or if the Covenant fleet advances and it is clear we cannot hold them back." He said plainly.

I nodded. No AI could fall into Covenant hands or they would discover all the coordinates of our colonies and Earth. ONI would end up wiping the AI after the attack anyway because the Covenant would be back with a larger force if they lost.

Now the ONI officer peeled away and walked down a different corridor. I walked into my new room. I hadn't taken much notice to it. I walked over to my very empty locker and grabbed the pieces of my armour. This time I made sure that every piece was locked in place. Underneath I wore a vacuum suit, I wasn't taking chances. When everything was on I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked greener than the last time I had worn my armour, due to the fact that the maintenance crew on the ship cleaned it regularly, something I wasn't very fond of. Although I could see that my armour had a lot more scars than I thought it did, along the chest I had splash burns from plasma landing next to me. My shoulder pad was actually almost burnt halfway; I hadn't realized during the firefight luckily it was one of the thickest pieces of armour meaning I wouldn't have to throw it off when I got hit there.

I walked out just as the ship alarms kicked in. The ships' crew must have thought it was another false alarm as they were walking around, taking their time to get to their stations. Many seemed to have worried looks on their faces as I walked down the corridors with full armour on. In the past we had been put on standby meaning we would sit in our rooms waiting for the go to put our armour on and move to our pods. I turned a corner and banged on a large metal door. It opened and I walked into the scarred and old ODST pod bay.

"Sir." One of the new ODST's said to me.

"Pack up your gear, get over to the hanger as quick as possible." I said.

I looked around at the first squad that I would ever have command over. The older more experience ODSTs seemed to be content with moving to the hanger. They understood that we would be taking a Pelican while the younger fresh ODSTs were giving each other confused looks of why they wouldn't be dropping in the SOVIE pods.

I turned around and left the room. My gear had already been taken down to the hanger and it felt weird, being in this heavy armour but not holding anything. It felt nice but weird at the same time.

I stepped into the elevator that I had come up in a mere 10 minutes ago and pressed the H button on the wall. The elevator jolted and went down. There was a shuddered and the elevator stopped, the light inside turned red. Soon the action alarms started to wail. The elevator sprang back into action but faster this time as I shot down. The elevator stopped and I walked out, everyone was now running moving out of my way as I walked along the railing and stepped onto the stairs taking me down to the hangar.

"Sir." The pilot saluted to me.

I nodded and held out my hand. The pilot shook it with a firm grip.

"Sorry you had to be dragged into this stupid idea." I said.

"Yea what is up with this Captain? I mean, he just lost a whole ODST squad doing the same thing. At least give us some cover fire or maybe a few Longswords to make sure we reach the goddamn station." He ranted.

"Amen. So I take it you are new to the ship as well?" I asked.

"Yea, I believe we were on the same flight up. Well I was flying."

"Matthew Drastly. Call me Drast. No one does, but good to start a habit."

"James Arthur, call me Art."

With that the rest of the ODST squad came out with their gear. They walked along the walkway and then down the stairs. The new ODSTs were a bit jumpy and excited about their first mission. I didn't expect them to make it back alive.

"Lets go." I said walking onto the ramp and sitting down on the seat next to the ramp.

The rest filed in with the older ODSTs choosing the seats closer to the ramp and me and the younger ODSTs all the way up at the pilots cabin. There was an obvious tear of experience between the squad.

I felt a buckle as we shot out of the hangar and out into space. No pilot did that, unless the pilot had to escape a ship. I saw what it did a few seconds later when I checked my timer, we were already halfway to the station. He had used it as a speed boost.

"You all have vacuum suits yes?" I asked.

I got nods from everyone except for one of the new ODSTs who was sitting wearing the thinnest amount of protection that an ODST could have. It was plain stupid, and it pissed me off.

"Alright, we will deploy on the roof of the station. We will then drop into the station this is going to be behind the boarding parties. We will swing round and pop off their landing craft with some explosives. Now the station's forces should have been able to hold off the parties, we move back picking them off before setting up a defensive line in the middle of the main corridor." I told the team.

Some of the old guys nodded and the younger guys suddenly felt the pressure under them. "Lets go." I finished.

The ODST without a vacuum suit on raised a hand. "Yea idiot, get in the cockpit. We don't need you."

The Pelican stopped and the ramp opened into the blackness of space.

"Jump!" I shouted over the mic.

We were high above the station but our vacuum suits were designed to weigh us down. I flew down through the soundless space and landed with a dull thud on the metal. I moved as fast as I could over to one of the access areas, the small hole be ringed with massive clamps.

I pulled out a can of C-7 explosive and sprayed the clamps. The chemical floated around as a liquid until it came into contact with the metal when it foamed and expanded. Due to the vacuum of space I put the detonator in the foam and blew it right in front of me.

I was the first to jump down. When in the station I turned around scanning every corner for Covenant. "Clear!"

The 4 other members of the squad jumped down and scanned the area again. I walked over to a wall panel and typed in the station lock code that was sent to me by the AI of the station. With a hiss the hole we created in the roof closed off with an emergency cover.

"Catch." I said to one of the younger members of the squad.

I threw him the can of C7. No one liked to carry the explosives so it generally came down to the youngest member of the squad. I turned back to the corridor and started to walk forward with my gun raised. I waited at the corner down the next corridor to where it was thought that the Covenant had already landed. I waited for someone to give the signal until I realized that I was in command now. I waved my hand to the last member against the wall who then moved up and aimed down the corridor. I moved around and snapped my gun up scanning for targets, nothing.

"Where the fuck are they?" I asked.

If anything the Covenant would have left a squad behind to make sure they had a ship to leave in. The others came around the corner as well. The youngsters had a look of both relief and frustration at the fact that we didn't have to engage in any combat.

"They must have been through here. An air vent over here is broken." A youngster said as he walked into the middle of the corridor.

One of the more experienced members shouted, but it was too late. The energy sword materialized and it was thrust through the young ODST lifting him off the ground.

"Contact!" Was the first word that left my mouth.

The second was off as another cloaked Elite knocked me to the floor. I pulled my pistol as my MA5 skidded away along the floor. With several shots I reduced the Elite's cloak and weak shield to nothing and then a bullet to the head pulverized its brain.

The early stages of confusion were nearly over as the Elites dropped their cloaks to allow their shields to reach full strength. Yet some of the less experience Elites fell victim to my pistol and to the cunning of the more experienced eyes in the squad.

I stood myself back up while still shooting.

"Sarg!" I heard one of the elder members shout. "Gun!"

I bent down on my knee and heard as my gun was kicked across the floor. It stopped with a slap against my leg. I picked it up with my left hand while still firing the last rounds from the clip of my pistol with my right hand.

There didn't seem like enough fire coming from our side of the battle as I could only hear three bullet firing weapons. I risked a look over my shoulder to see that the two remaining rookies were hiding behind the walls and peaking out to try and get that one shot. I used to think like that, save ammo by taking your time. That was what they taught us at boot camp anyway.

"Get your sorry asses out here and start firing! Forget boot camp for fuck sake!" I screamed through my speakers.

One of them took a step out of the cover, albeit small and started firing. The other one tried to follow suit but a plasma round missed his face by several centimetres, which sent him back to his safe place behind the wall. I was angry but I sympathized with them at the same time. Although I had the stupid idea when I first started fighting to try and fistfight an Elite.

I realized that this wasn't going anywhere quick and we would end up using all our ammo on some rookie Elite squad. It was time to that the advantage of our ability to put more rounds down range per second than they could.

"Push forward." I said over the radio.

I got green lights for the elders and one rookie while the other one posted a red light. Red light generally meant that they were hit, but I doubted it. Nothing that I saw could have hit him. I ignored it for now and stood up leading the slow push.

With lightning fast speed I changed mags. I continued to fire at targets stopping for only a second as the cry of the Elite I had just been shooting at signified its death. Soon the only fire I could hear was from our weapons.

"Ceasefire!" I yelled before crouching to the floor with my gun still raised.

Soon the fire pattered down and what was left were bodies of Elites all along the floor. The body of the impaled young ODST lay against the wall. I checked my ammo and sighed with disappointment. I had used more than half of my ammo for my MA5 and I only had two clips left for my M6C.

"Ammo count!" I said.

Taking off my helmet I lent against the wall. I felt something click within the wall and I moved backwards. I stepped up quickly and brought my gun around to protect myself. The other ODSTs also raised their guns at the wall. Then that section of the wall slid out packed with MA5's, M6C's and the ammo for the guns.

"Never mind then." I muttered.

Walking over to it I grabbed a mag and checked it. It was full along with every other mag. I shrugged and started packing them into my different empty pockets. The others did the same. I filled myself to the brim and so did the others before the gun rack slid back into the wall. A camera above us turned to view us; it was the station's AI. I gave a small salute to the camera before leading the squad forward.

"What about Liam?" One of the younger men asked.

"What about him?" An elder replied.

"Hey!" The new ODST said pushing the elder to the wall.

Yet with lightning fast reflexes it turned around quickly with the more experienced ODST grabbing his knife from his chest and spinning the youngster's arm around into a tight lock.

"You hid behind a fucking wall while we could have died. Your little friend Liam was a little shit who didn't know what to do. You will be next with all the shit coming out of your mouth." The elder released his grip.

He looked up at me, a still young man with years less experience than him. I gave him a nod of understanding of which he returned. I turned back to the recovering ODST. "He's right you know. I may only be two years older than you and only have 6 months of combat experienced. Yet people die, I've lost two squads and a ship. So sooner or later you are going to have to suck it up and stop being a bitch, or you will end up like Liam over there."

The ODST seemed to understand a bit. He fully recovered and swung his arm around to loosen it up a bit.

"We will pick him up and bring him back when we come back this way." Said the ODST who had put the youngster in the arm lock.

I nodded in agreement. "Now, lets get back to our job."

We continued to walk down several bland dark grey steel corridors with our guns raised before we reached the outer wall of the station. There had been a large skirmish in here during the opening stages. It obviously went bad for the army squad that had taken positions in here. The Covenant boarding pods had drilling straight through the Titanium-A armour and poured out the contents inside.

"Catch. I'll watch the back with the youngster. Give your can to him." I said pointing out at different soldiers.

I hadn't had the time to learn everyone's names. I didn't really care right now. If we managed to survive this and then the Covenant reinforcements then I might consider getting closer with the squad, for now it was just point and say "him".

The men split up and moved around spraying the C7 foam around the doors of the Covenant drop pods. Meanwhile the youngster and I were scanning as best we could incase that there were more cloaked Elites.

"Finished!" Shouted youngster 2.

"We're done over here." One of the elders said calmly over the radio.

"Alright let's move to our main-" I was cut short by a bright flash of blue.

"Grenade!" Came the shout several seconds late.

I was sent flying backwards hitting the back wall hard. I woke up several seconds later to see that the youngster next to me had had his head impaled from behind from a piece of bent metal from the Covenant boarding craft. There was a small crack in his helmet where the tip of the metal piece was exposed slightly.

"Man down." I coughed into the radio.

I stood up quickly only to fall down again from the dizziness. My left arm felt weird as I lifted it. I tried to use it to support my gun only to find myself in extreme pain. Grunting I let my MA5 drop to the floor and I pulled my M6C from its holster and start firing side on at the large squad of grunts that had ambushed us.

Within a minute they were all dead with a few running back around the corner only to be chassed down and executed. When the remaining members of the squad returned we looked around to find that only 4 of us remained, 2 dead and one that didn't come with the right gear. I honestly thought that he wouldn't have survived any longer anyway. Upon looking down at the dead youngster I decided to promise something that I knew was impossible.

"I have had enough!" I shouted taking my helmet off and slamming it too the floor. My hair flowed down onto my face. "I have enough of people I fight with dying." I pushed my hair back and looked at the remaining ODSTs who were now taking their helmets off as well. "I'm going to make a stupid promise. One of the most stupid in my life. I'm going to promise to keep you all safe, I promise with all my life that I will make sure that you make it through this war."

The elder members looked dumbstruck. The remaining youngster looked a bit happy and confident at the same time. "I have known 11 other ODSTs and nearly 500 members of the UNSC Hummingbird. Now I know 2 more dead fucking ODSTs. I have had fucking enough of this shit."

Now the older ODSTs started to nod understanding where I was coming from. I swiped down and picked up my helmet. I placed it back on my head and clicked it in before my suit sealed and my vacuum suit underneath compacted with my body. The team followed suit.

"Can you pop my arm back into place." I asked.

One of the more experienced ODST's stepped forward. He was obviously our medic by the excessive amount of bio-foam he was carrying on his body. I turned to my side before he pushed my arm up quickly. With a loud snap my shoulder went back into its original position.

"Lets get going then." I said shrugging my shoulder.

I lifted the detonator and pressed the button. We all fell to the floor as the explosions around us rocked the station. Then came the vacuum, I hadn't expected any of this. We were sent towards the closest hole in the wall before the station's systems kicked in to seal off the gaps. We fell hard to the floor.

"Well I'm off to a good start on my promise." I groaned as I pushed myself up from the floor.

"From now on, take all explosives away from me. That would let us live a few more years." I said as I led the hurting team back the way we came.

I quickly turned back and went over to the body of the dead ODST. I slung him over my shoulder and nodded at the team. "Now we can go."

It was 30 minutes later when we reached the middle corridor where there were both human and Covenant bodies lining the floor. We had also picked up the other ODST on the way back here and he was now on the back of the medic. We walked through the corridor to the amazement of some of the army soldiers that had been sleeping or close too.

"Whose in command here?" I asked one of the more awake soldiers.

"Ummm, Lieutenant George. Over there in the corner on the phone to the command centre." He replied quickly.

xxxxxthen proceeded to walk over to the corner; it became apparent that the Lieutenant wasn't actually talking to command but more likely a love interest.

"Oi, why haven't you cleaned up and bolstered the barricades." I said de-polarizing my visor.

He turned away saying a quick goodbye. He turned back with an angry stern face. "We are doing the best we can. I have done everything in my power to make sure we are secure."

I pointed at the wounded soldiers manning half destroyed blocking positions. "This is what you call the best you can do." I then pointed at the bodies that were lying in the middle of the corridor. "And them, have you done everything for them?"

The Lieutenant chocked on his words before putting on a stern face. "Look here Sergeant, I am a Lieutenant therefor I am a higher ranking officer and you must show me respect."

I took a step closer and polarized my visor. "I am a Sergeant of the ODSTs. Therefor I do not give a shit about your army shitting rank you mutt. The UNSC sees us as too valuable to court-martial over disrespecting a little officer, unlike you. You are a useless soldier that should be used for cannon fodder."

The Lieutenant looked like a little turtle. I put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him to the floor. He didn't offer much resistance and once he was on the floor he curled up into a small ball. He was only 18 I couldn't blame him. I would've done the same if I was in charge of a squad and big Spartan came up to me. Well Spartans have command anyway its just common sense.

"Alright, I'm in command now." I shouted.

The army soldiers had finally woken up and were looking at me. They looked like they couldn't care less. They had the look of defeat on their face. Their numbers by the look of all the bodies had started at around 20, now they were down half to 10, 4 of whom were wounded.

"Let's start by collecting the dead. We need to show some honour to those who have died fighting so that we may live another hour."

I walked through the bundle of me and picked up one of the bodies. Blood seeped out from his back as gravity to hold of his needler wounds. I walked back towards the group and put the body next to the ODSTs. I looked back and saw that the other ODSTs were doing the same, becoming role models like they taught us in school. I never realized that it actually had this effect as the moral was raised slightly and the soldiers went to collect their dead friends.

It only took a few minutes before all the dead had been collected and lined up. We had striped them of ammo and placed their weapons close to the barricades incase one of our guns jammed. I had sent one of the more experienced ODSTs' to go and place C7 foam on the AI core that was down the corridor.

"Move that block over here. Anything that is solid will work against plasma weaponry. Needlers are what we need to worry about with thin defense." I heard the other experienced ODST say.

I realized I needed to put names to faces if I wanted to actually live up to my promise of keeping them safe for the rest of war. Yet this wasn't a clear-cut war, it could go on for another year or another 30. I was hoping for a swift but human victory for the war, yet that chance seemed very thin.

We had made the once looking grim setup a decent defense position. I cleaned my gun twice waiting for the Covenant to make their attack. There were 6 boarding craft that we blew out. By the look of the amount of bodies that we had killed and the army soldiers had killed, only 2 boarding craft worth of Covenant forces had been killed.

"O'Conner!" I called to one of the experienced ODST's.

His name was the only name I had remembered so far. "Aye?"

"Is there any chance that they could have snuck past the army guys during the battle?" I asked.

"Nope, they would have struck by now. The Elites are patient but not this patient. Anyway the AI would have alerted us to any heat signatures on the station." He replied.

I nodded. I felt uneasy at the situation and I tightened my grip on my MA5. This was very unlike the Covenant. I was expecting numbers and a show of force, yet the ships were staying on the edge of the firing range and they weren't deploying anymore boarding craft.

"Sir! We have Phantoms coming towards the station! Three of them!" Shouted one of the soldiers as he looked up from a computer screen.

"Positions!" Came my shout.

Everyone got up from what they were doing and grabbed their weapons before getting behind the thickest barricade they could find. There was a frenzy of weapons being checked and soldiers reloading incase of a jam. Then there was silence. The air held still as we waited for a hoard of Covenant to charge us, yet nothing came.

"Wouldn't they just use more boarding craft so they don't have to land? It would be quicker." A soldier pointed out.

"Check the screens again." I said looking away from the corridor slightly.

The soldier slung his weapon onto his back and crept back to the computer keeping his head down at all times. He opened the screen and refreshed the feeds. He had a confused look as he refreshed again and again.

"It seems like they have pulled off and no body was dropped." He said.

"Why would they do that? They would have had the numbers to take us on." Another soldier said.

"It's because they weren't dropping off troops. They were picking them up." O'Conner butted in. "I don't like it sir. We need to get off this station and back to the ship."

I thought for a bit. In all honestly this station didn't represent much for the UNSC and if the Covenant attack with more ships the station would end up shredded anyway.

"You." I pointed at the soldier with the computer. "Do you know anything about AI's?" I asked.

He looked dumbfounded. "Yes, I studied them at college."

"Is it possible to erase an AI but leave a couple of functions still active?"

"Yes, but I don't know how you would use this." He said bluntly.

"How long would it take you to do?" I asked.

"Five minutes. All I need to do is erase the parts of the AI that you want and I'll separate the parts that you want to keep and place them inside a safety folder. I could even place a timer on the folder to erase." He went on.

"No need for that. I want you to leave the targeting and firing functions for the station to defend itself, but I want the rest of the AI gone including navigational data." I said.

The soldier realized what I wanted and nodded. "I can do that."

I pointed at the other experienced ODST. "Both of you go to the AI control room. Do what has to be done and then meet us in the hangar bay. I'll get a pelican here and take the rest of the men down there. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded. "Then let's go!" I shouted.

I called the Captain on my hotline. "Sir we need a pelican here quick. The Covenant are pulling back out of the station. We think they are planning to bring more ships into the fight to make sure they don't suffer losses." I said while moving.

There was a silence over the line, although I could hear the alert siren going off faintly. "You have no evidence to this claim. You are to hold positions to protect the AI so that it can target and fire at ships as they come in range." He replied plainly.

"Sir, we have a plan. I sent the army tech to delete all the AI's information except for the targeting and firing programs. This way we can leave the station without the worry of the Covenant getting their hands on the navigational data that would lead them back to Earth." I argued.

"Don't take that tone with me boy. Obey your orders, or I will have you court-martialed and put in front of a firing squad for desertion." He yelled.

I went silent and thought about my options. We could hold outside the AI hub, it was closer to the hangar. If I could get a Pelican than everything would fit into place.

"We can do that Sir, but only if you can send a Pelican to the hangar bay for us." I said.

"I said no, Sergeant! Now shut up and o your job!" The call cut.

"Son of a bitch!" I screamed. "Fuck him, we are getting off this station, court martial or not."

I scanned through the contacts I had collected until I came to 'Pelican-99' the pilot just happened to be Art. I called the ship and almost immediately it was picked up.

"I know, Captain tried to make an example of you but just rambled on about respect and chain of command. I'm on my now, you might want to try and get some of the marine support on the ship to try and avoid getting arrested." The call cut quickly.

I liked Art, he knew when no bullshit was needed and small talk was useless.

"Pelican is on its way. We might need to fight off arrest when we get back to the ship though." I said over the radio to the rest of the squad.

"Let's get a move on." I said to my group before breaking into a jog.

It didn't take us long to get to the hangar. The station had three levels and there were plenty of stairs placed around. We arrived before the Pelican. I hadn't been informed that the station was abandoned when the Covenant entered the system so I had spent time trying to call up the repair yards. The army unit had been sent from the surface only minutes before us. We could of called their Pelican but it had been shot down immediately after it left the station.

The second group joined us as soon as Art flew in. With swift precession he turned his Pelican around and dropped the ramp. "Get in!" He yelled.

We all rushed in and took our seat. I made sure I entered last, with all the Pelicans going down it would be nice to be able to jump ship at the last second. The ramp closed quickly and we were out again.

The afterburners kicked in forcing me to grab the rail above me to support myself. The craft shook several times, which was weird because Covenant weaponry didn't exploded. I brought up my radar and saw that there were two Longswords on our tail.

"Why didn't you mention the Longswords?" I shouted over the radio at Art.

There was no reply. I held onto the railing as hard as I could as tensed my body ready to go flying through space. Several seconds later a large explosion deafened me, my helmet compensated for the loud noise and my hearing returned quickly enough. I looked up again to see if anything had happened to the inside of the craft.

"Hold on!" Art screamed.

Soon enough we were sent into a spin. I brought up my radar and saw that Art was planning on crashing into the hangar bay of the frigate by using the spinning to give us speed due to the fact that one of our engines had just been hit.

"Here we go!" Art began to laugh.

The laughing got louder as we neared the ship. I held on for my life, as did the other ODSTs and soldiers in the Pelican. I closed my radar to avoid seeing how close we were to death. I needed to trust Art to make sure we land alive.


	17. Roost

_June 25__th__, 2531_

We scraped the top of the hangar entrance. Entering the gravity of the ship, Art cut of the engines and we dropped skidding across the hangar floor. I lifted off my seat and was smacked back down a few times before the ship came to a screeching stop.

"Art!" I coughed.

I let go of the railing and fell to the floor. I scrambled for my gun on the floor. I grabbed the strap and pulled it towards me. A damage message came up on my screen, my shoulder had dislocated again and my foot was broken in several places. I noticed a small crack in the side of my visor.

"Guys?" I coughed again.

I turned my light on and shined it around the Pelican. All the soldiers were dead. The vitals from the rest of my team showed that they were alive, but two of them were knocked out. O'Connor was the only one still awake.

There was a massive wrenching sound coming from outside the Pelican. Someone was trying to break the ramp open and get to us. I lifted my weapon with my good arm. This seemed to be occurring too often. Bright light burst through the Pelican. I pulled the trigger, all that I heard was a click. I pulled the trigger again and received another click.

"They're alive!"

"Take them to the Captain!"

"No. The Captain would have left them to die. He would have done the same if we were on the station."

"Listen to yourself! What you talk about is mutiny!"

"The Captain is not fit to lead this ship, and you know it!"

I heard the smashing of armour. Their was a fight going on outside. Soon there was even more commotion.

"Get them out of there! Now!"

Soon I was grabbed by my ankles and dragged out of the Pelican. I could hear yelling as a full out brawl started in the hangar.

"The Sarg is still awake!" The ankle dragger yelled.

"Same with this one! The other two are out cold! All of the army soldiers are dead!"

My visor rebooted properly and a shock went through my body to stop me from going unconscious. I sat up immediately to the surprise of all the marines around me.

"Sir? Are you alright?" One of them asked.

"Left shoulder, I need you to pop it back in." I asked quickly and bluntly.

The marines were a bit stunned by my sudden burst and request, yet another marine who picked up on it quicker pushed through the crowd and knelt next to me. He had managed to put a helmet on showing the fighters that he was a medic. With a simple lift and push my shoulder popped back in again. Then there was a shot, and everything went silent. There was now a slight bulge in the front of the medic's helmet. He dropped in front of me with a small hole in the top of his helmet.

"Anyone who tries to help the mutineers will be treated as one and shot!" The Captain yelled from the top of the railing.

To prove his point he shot one of the mutineers who were on the floor next to him. "Return to your stations! And follow your orders!" He said. He spotted me and pointed a finger. "Kill him and the rest of his squad."

Two full squads of marines poured out of the elevator equipped with full combat gear. A Lieutenant then proceeded to walk up to me pushing people out of his way as he went. He pulled out his gun and raised it. I was quicker, within a couple of seconds I had managed to grab the dead medic's pistol and hide it. I raised it just in time to shoot the Lieutenant. Then full chaos broke out.

The ship was at war with itself, and according to radio reports it had spread out of the hangar onto all decks. The majority of the Loyalists were higher-ranking Lieutenants and Sergeants in senior positions. Then there were the marines who liked the strict rules or who were under the command of these officers. The mutineers were the majority of the fighting soldiers and pilots. The maintenance crews were on no-ones side and had locked themselves inside the maintenance tunnels.

I returned to the pelican to grab my MA5. I threw a fresh clip in and proceeded to head out and take the fight to the Captain. I came out firing, first aiming at some officers on the railing. We were obviously out numbering the Loyalists in the hangars. I changed my attention to the line of marines that were gunning down charging pilots. Two fell before the other dropped their weapons and raised their hands.

"We have the hangar!" I cheered to give the men a morale boost.

I turned to a mechanic. "Do you have a ship wide call system in here?" I asked.

"No, but there is one right as you leave the elevator on the level above us." He replied.

A group of marines heard this and started for the elevator picking up weapons as they went.

"No!" I shouted. "They will be watching the elevators. Take the stairs."

O'Conner was being tended to by the medics. I walked over to them and knelt down. "Can he fight?" I asked.

"All he has is very bad bruising and a dislocated elbow, he should be fine." The medic replied.

"Come on then, we need to end this once and for all." I told him.

O'Connor shrugged off the medics and grabbed his MA5 from the ground next to him. I could see that there was hate in his eyes, good I thought. I chucked him his helmet from the Pelican and walked over to the airlock.

"Activate your magnetic boots." I told him as I typed in my code for the ship.

Surprisingly the code worked and the door opened. I stepped in side and waited for O'Connor who was still messing around with his suit. This spare time I used to think. What happened to the marine that I had met back on the surface, what side was he on? Was I going to have to put a bullet between his eyes? These were just a few of the questions that I asked myself. O'Connor slapped my shoulder.

"Let's do this." He said.

"Amen." I replied.

I pulled the safety lever and the doors shot open. I felt my body being pulled out but my feet stayed stuck to the ground. I took my first step and the sucking became more powerful. My back leg scrapped forward slightly. I began to move faster towards the ledge. With my hands I grabbed onto the outside armour platting and pulled myself up. Now there was no suction. My steps felt weightless as I walked along the ship's hull. O'Connor was right behind me; we both had our maps open with the ship's schematic. The door we were looking for was on the other end of the ship close to the bridge. If we controlled the bridge then most of the marines would join the mutiny.

"We're close." O'Connor told me over the radio.

We had moved a lot quicker due to the lack of gravity. I hadn't even broken a sweat. I looked around and quickly skimmed over all the writing on the hull. 'Do not step here', 'Warning explosives', or 'Keep clear' were just some of the white lines that lined the hull, but I had found what I was looking for, the red writing read, 'Pull to open'. Easy enough to find, I guess.

"Over here." I said.

O'Connor looked up from the hull and looked towards me. I pointed to the door and he nodded in reply. He quickly made his way over to me. I knelt down next to the writing and grabbed a red lever, pulling it the doors shot open and there was a great gush of air getting sucked out of the ship.

I moved in first. I jumped in and O'Connor followed. I typed in my code once again the doors slammed shut. The feeling of gravity weighed me down once again. I disabled my magnetic boots and moved to the second door. O'Conner knelt down in front of the door and raised his gun. He nodded at me, I typed in my code once again and the doors slowly opened. Quickly I raised my weapon as well, nothing. The hallway was empty.

"Clear!" I shouted. "Clear!" Came O'Connor's reply.

O'Connor moved in behind me as I move down towards the entrance to the main hallway on the bridge deck. We skirted around corners watching our backs incase anyone was following us.

Sweat started to roll from my forehead. This break in action was not good for my mind. What happened after this? If this was truly an officer versus soldier battle then we would stranded as we wouldn't have enough qualified men to fly the ship. I stopped to look out one of the viewing ports. In the distance I could make out the shape of the other frigate steaming towards us. The Captain must have called for help. I stayed put and just looked around to see that the Covenant fleet was gone. This wasn't like them; they wanted to kill every human no matter the cost.

"O'Connor." I called.

He had stopped and been waiting for me. "What's up?"

"The Covenant are gone." I told him.

He gave me a confused look before looking out the window. He looked around for a bit and his looked changed to a concerned frown. We both knew what was going to happen, the Covenant retreat when beaten and then return with an even larger fleet to crush any defense. We needed the Captain whether we liked it or not.

I turned my radio on and called the bridge. The communications officer picked up. "Hello?" She asked. She seemed like a complete rookie.

"Matthew Drastly." Is all I said.

I heard muffling and talking in the background along with a chair falling over. I stood there still watching the space around us waiting for the Covenant to just pop up.

"This is Captain Giroud, and I know why you are calling me." He paused. "I am willing to pardon everyone of their mutiny and work with the crew and soldiers if they can follow their orders. You need us." He said.

With his demands laid down, I responded. "You will pardon us for our mutiny and we will work together as two separate groups with our own chains of command. We may need you to fight in space, but we have the pilots on our side and all we need to do is fly down to the surface. Face it, you need us more."

There was silence on the other end. "No. I must have absolute authority over my forces, which includes you. I cannot work with someone that is above my orders."

I looked at O'Connor and he shook his head. "The mans lost the plot mate." He said.

"You know I can't do that. We've gone too far to go back under your command. Your actions in the hangar alone would have caused the ship to riot with or without me. We work together as separate groups or we leave you to die." I said bluntly.

Again there was silence but in the background was a small muffle. I turned up the volume on my radio, I could hear shouting now. It sounded like the Captain's voice and one of the officers'. "I am willing to agree with the terms that everyman will stand court-martial when this is over."

"Now he's fucking completely out of his mind." O'Connor said.

"Ok, I can agree to that." I said.

O'Connor froze and gave me a look that said, "the fuck are you doing". I muted my mic. "If the Covenant do arrive with a larger fleet-" I was cut off with a massive shockwave that threw me to the ground.

"Holy shit!" O'Connor shouted.

I jumped back onto my feet and rushed towards the window. Our supporting frigate was in pieces and a small armada of Covenant ships was heading our way. I felt helpless being on a small frigate with nowhere to run. I watched in despair as the station's MAC gun opened fire and the round smashing through a Covenant frigate. Seconds after a beam expanded from a CCS Battle cruiser cutting the station in half.

"Captain, we need to get onto the ground now!" I screamed over the radio.

I changed my radio frequency before shouting. "All men ceasefire, we have a truce. Move to the hangar bays and report into your teams, we are going ground side!"

O'Connor took off his helmet to reveal a close shaved head and a burn scar over half his face. He noticed me staring and smiled. "Your turn will be next soon mate."

I gave a weak smile back and he broke into a chuckle. "No one is going to get out of this war unscathed. I read up on your report, you family and past life was blacked out, but I know you have been hit and burnt a number of times they won't be the last."

He had his reasoning and placed his helmet back on. We headed down the corridor towards the hangar bays. We passed through sections of the ships where there were blast marks on the walls along with bullet holes. Blood smears were along the walls and floors. A clean up effort had removed the casualties and casings but they hadn't had time to wipe up the blood. We slipped a couple of times before reaching the elevators.

"Matt!" Someone shouted.

I turned and skidded to a stop almost slipping as I went over a small pool of blood. Art was hobbling down the corridor after me. He still had his flight gear on but had a bandage around his head and leg.

"I'm coming with you guys. I know the basics of a SOIEV. I know that some of you team didn't make it." He gasped as he came to a stop to catch his breath.

Before I could open my mouth to say no, O'Connor spoke up. "If you know how to use one then follow us. We are going to get our spare gear so you can grab some of the other boys' gear while we are there."

I stopped myself from protesting and nodded at Art. Fighting on the ground was going to be hard and we needed everyone. We came up to our locker room. I stood at the door way awkwardly as O'Connor and Art grabbed gear. Art was struggling to put on the ODST armour and I rushed to give him a hand. When completed the armour didn't fit right, everything was too large.

"You guys go to the drop pods. I'll go get my gear." I told them jogging out of the room.

I didn't hear a reply before sprinting off. It was now that I ran into the first soldier in ages. There were two marines and an officer. The officer looked like she had taken several bullets to the stomach and chest, surprisingly she was alive and the marines were taking here to the infirmary. I stepped to the side to let them pass receiving a nod of thanks from both of them.

I continued to charge down the stairs, using the wall at the bottom to slow me down. My boxes were on the other side of the hangar so I charged across as fast as I could. I heard a slow hum as I reached the centre and ducked just in time as a Pelican roared over my head and out into the great abyss. I now checked my sides for anymore-stray Pelicans before getting up and running again. I slid the last 10 metres and shot off the locks with my pistol before opening the boxes and grabbing my rifle and a shit ton of ammo. A Pelican flew back into the hanger and lay to rest behind me.

"Oi!" I shouted as the pilot got out.

He turned and gave me a look. He had blood all over him and turned back towards the cockpit and dragged a marine from within. I felt bad for him but at the same time I couldn't care less. I sighed and closed my lockers and dragged them both up the ramp into the Pelican placing them both securely underneath the seating.

I rushed back out and headed towards the stairs. I felt heavy again, which oddly enough made me feel more natural after all this time on leave and not fighting for weeks on end. I was barely puffin when I reached the top of the stairs and rushed to the pod bay. O'Connor was showing Art how to use the pod by pointing at all the different buttons and switches.

"Let's go." I said.

I moved down to get into my pod when the door burst open and a man in ODST armour was standing in the door way. I gave him one look and recognized who he was; I had left him behind on the Pelican when we boarded the station.

"Sir." He said saluting before breaking into a puff.

I knew he wanted in but I wanted to hear from his mouth. "What do you want Hell Jumper?"

"Permission to drop sir." He puffed.

"Granted." I said without a thought.

I moved to the side as he passed me to his pod at the end of the bay. I stepped into mine and closed the hatch. The hydraulic pistons hissed as the hatch locked shut. I turned on the radio in the pod and took off my helmet.

"Right boys. The plan is to land into the city and assist current forces there. The Covenant have actually deployed two frigates to attack the planet and remove defense before the main fleet will glass it. We need to stop that from happening." I stopped and took a breath. "Thanks to an intercepted arms shipment we have five Onager MAC guns that we can use. The marines on the surface have already secured them and split them up to different sections of the city. Our job will be mainly to protect these, as they are our lifelines from becoming molten glass. Sound good?"

"Amen." O'Connor commented.

Art and the youngster didn't reply.

"Good. Prepare to drop."

The ship's AI placed the coordinates of the best place to land into our guidance systems. I looked around my new pod; it wasn't 'new' new. This one had been produced long ago and had seen it's fair share of conflict. There was no blood in it or anything but I see the scratch marks someone had been making with a knife while they were bored. I pressed all the buttons in order without looking. I may have been out for a bit but the training for this wasn't for nothing. I grabbed the flight controllers with both my hands and pressed my drop button.

My whole body lurched up as I dropped through the ship. As soon as I left the ship I felt light as I passed through the thin strip of space between the ship and the atmosphere of the planet. Then the shaking started, I looked at my screens and redirected my pod so that it was still on course. I brought up current reports from the ground that the hastily formed command was sending to everyone with a screen and it looked like we were dropping into a shit storm. There was no definable frontline with pockets of Covenant and Marines everywhere we were going to have to have a bit of luck to hit into a Covenant position.

We passed through cloud level and I braced my body for impact as my chute opened and I was thrown upwards. The chute detached and I free fell again. The whole squad was falling within two seconds of each other. I had adjusted our course to land in the middle of the battle. As I looked out my windows, I realized that it might not have been the best idea despite how cool it seemed at the time.

I released my grip from the flight controllers and grabbed my MA5. I braced myself for impact as I drew close to the ground. The shudder and shock when I hit the ground was fully absorbed by the pod as I burst out. Grunts and jackals lay around the pod in confusion when I burst out and picked them off. My team landed next to me and exploded violently out of their pods with guns blazing.

My feet were finding it hard to grip with the sand as I charged towards foolishly towards an elite. My slow movement proved to be my downfall. With a swift backhand the elite threw me several metres into the air before I landed on my back in the middle of a group of marines who had braved it to come out of their hole. They all stood still around me as the battle raged on.

"Get moving you fools!" I screamed as I drew my pistol and emptied the magazine into the elite.

I jumped to my feet wheezing at my broken ribs from the backhand, but fighting off the pain. I knelt down and grabbed my MA5. The elite lay on the floor with two holes in its chest. I leveled my gun with its head and fired a single round.

"Over here!" I told the marines who had once again stopped and huddled in the midst of the battle.

I charged forward once again, using all my leg strength to make up for the speed lost in the sand. I smashed down a jackal with my shoulder spraying it with bullets and stamping on its head for good measure. The marines took a liking to my brutal take down and tried to replicate it but to no avail. The marine charged straight into the jackal's shield causing his shirt to burn away and his skin to blister. Taking advantage of the distracted jackal I fired a shot, taking it down.

"Leave him! He'll live!" I told the marines as I rushed past them.

The group joined me as we charged the small group of Covenant who were in a slight retreat back towards their transports at the end of the beach.

The elites who saw that the battle had turned and they were losing. Took the initiative and used the confused grunts and jackals as a thinning wall to make a run for the transports. Soon the rest of the force saw their leaders running causing a mass rout.

"Charge them down!" Screamed O'Connor as he mercilessly gunned down a group of retreating grunts.

The marines took joy as they knelt, as if they were back on the range and started to gun down the stubby little alien shits.

The last elite made it back to the transports and they took off leaving the small force of jackals and grunts behind to be slaughtered. Many of them dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender, but it meant nothing to us. They would have done the same to us, we were about as important as they were in our army. Not important enough to capture and feed as prisoners of war.

The last of the grunts were picked off just as the pelicans arrived with fresh marines and ammo. Two pelican flew behind, both towing scorpion tanks underneath their hulls. There were also three pelicans full of just cement and building materials. One thing was clear; we were here for the long haul.

* * *

_July 25__st__, 2531_

"Smoke?" O'Connor offered as he sat in the far corner of the pelican.

I waved my hand. "I'm good." I reached for the two buttons where my helmet connected to my suit.

Pulling my helmet from my suit I felt the relief of warm as brush down my body.

"I have cigars back in the city. I've been waiting for one for a month. Not going to ruin the taste with a cig." I told him.

"Fair enough." His Irish accent was a hint annoyed.

We took off from the sand once again for the 15th time in the space of a month. Our pods had been cemented into the ground by the marines the day after we dropped. I never understood why they looked up to us; we were the same as them. Not any more brave or strong, we were just given better gear and training.

"Youngster recovered yet?" I asked him.

Youngster refused to tell us his name after the battle, saying that he preferred to be called youngster as he wanted it to stand for something within the ODST and `

Marine Corps. He wanted to be known by the name, something to do with glory or a thing like that. Yet he still hadn't got used to the realities of war. He had befriended a marine pilot by the name of Janice; they were inseparable for the first two weeks of our time fighting this campaign. Then during a Covenant raid against one of our island outposts she sacrificed herself in order to destroy a Scarab that had made landfall without getting shot down by our Onagers. For the past two weeks he had done nothing but fight and eat. Eventually we had to leave him behind so he could get some rest, or else he might collapse from exhaustion.

"No. I contacted him during the break between assaults and he still can't get more than 30 minutes sleep." He said.

I grunted with dissatisfaction. "He should get over it."

"He's just a kid mate, cut him some slack."

"Look at me!" I said pointing at my face. "I'm young too, I can't even grow a full beard yet! Do you see me crying every time someone fucking dies!"

"You two are completely different!" He yelled back. "He grew up on fucking Mars! You know what that means; he wasn't an impoverished son of a bitch like you! He grew up on a goddamn estate you know? He had two nanny's caring for him from the day he was born up until he join the bloody Corp. It was hard enough for him to get used to making his own bed every morning and not getting bacon and eggs for breakfast." O'Connor was leaning forward in an aggressive stance as he would usually when we got into an argument.

I retreated and lay back against the wall. "Fair enough, I'm just saying. We need every man to fight right now, and he's one of the only ODSTs on the planet and we can't afford to have him sit inside all day and weep. He needs to learn quick."

The warm breeze faded from the pelican as we drew closer to the city. The grand city of - was still standing despite the intense fighting that was required to maintain complete control over it. There were still skirmishes in the rubble outskirts, but we had a firm grip of the centre high-rises. The city had been run by a close to totalitarian police state form of government and therefor was littered with security cameras, which had been turned back on and used to monitor for Covenant attack.

"This is Sergeant Drastly, reporting from Outpost 'Drop'." I cleared my dry, coarse throat. "Two regiments of Covenant routed. Five casualties, two dead and three injured. No sign of any glassing movement. Heading home."

O'Connor gave me another look. "You should talk to him. I mean, you are squad leader and therefore responsible of his well-being."

I shook my head. "I didn't choose to be squad leader. I mean you and that other bloke are more qualified for the job. Fuck, I'm still a rookie to some."

"That may be true, but he looks up to you. You are young and squad leader! That is what he wants to be. So talk to him."

"I don't think anyone would want to go through what I've gone through to get to the position I am." I leant forward to press my point. "I would give it all up just to get back some of the friends that I've lost."

"Why do you think that you are the only ODST to have lost anyone?" O'Connor growled. "Like you said, I've seen plenty more combat than you, both against Innies and Covenant. Yet here I am with a new squad like you. I think you'll find that most ODSTs have lost a lot to get where they are. Don't think you are a special case."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he had a very good point. I was acting like I had lost everything and had nothing left to lose. Yet there were those out there who had lost even more and were in better shape than me mentally.

The rest of the flight we spent in silence. I messaged Art to meet us when we landed. It turned out that Art was an absolute terrible shot, but what somewhat decent at organizing equipment and organizing operations. Now he ran all ODST operations around the planet from a small office on the ground floor of a ruined building.

We landed with little time to spare before the next batch of rested marines was sent off to the frontline islands. The island strategy was introduced because of the planet's rich natural gas reserves, which we were using to light the city and power our vehicles.

The operation on top of the convention centre was the largest in the city. The large overhanging buildings provided cover from the air while it was in the middle of the city making it near impossible to reach by ground attack. The large flat roofs made it ideal for the helicopters and the large freight elevators made it easy for the movement of ammunition and fuel from the safety of inside to the pelicans.

I gave the area a good look; it brought a smile to my face. Pilots and marines stepped aside and saluted as we walked through towards the elevators.

"Hold the elevator!" O'Connor said as a group of dirty marines stepped into it.

The marines did as they were told and kept an arm out to stop the elevator door from closing. "Cheers." I said as we stepped in. The marines nodded not having the voice to reply. I pressed the 'G' button and the doors closed before the elevator rocked slightly before gliding down the shaft.

With a shudder we came to a stop and we stepped out into the main hall of the convention centre, which was even more active than the roof. Offices had been put up in the corners for the organization and recording of flights and the use of fuel, ammo, etc. The floor was covered in groups of different type of ammunition and weapons both small and large. Men and women moved around tagging all the weapons and checked their data-pads.

We made for the main doors, pushing them aside with ease we hopped on the closet truck and let it drive off. The main inner roads had been cleared for our ease of use. The debris had been pushed to block off roads further out from the city centre. Though there were still rubble barricades at intersections and corners for defensive purposes.

We rode the truck for around ten minutes before jumping off and walking into a seemingly untouched apartment building. We entered the lobby, which itself had a barricade blocking off access to both the elevators and the stairs. We made out way to one of elevators and O'Connor pressed the '10' button. The elevator was completely smooth as we sped all the way up the building.

"Catch you tomorrow for debrief." I said.

"Will do." He replied stepping out as the doors opened. "Don't forget, you need to talk to him."

I gave a nod to him and a half salute. He returned it and the doors closed.

I stood there for a good part of a minute and just thought what I was going to say to Youngster. Eventually my head hurt from thinking and I decided to follow it up after a hot shower and a good 13-hour sleep. I pressed the '15' button and the elevator glided up to the penthouse apartments. I got out and walked down the corridor for a bit, just pacing lightly. I pressed my finger against the scanner on the door labeled '100'. I walked in and dumped my helmet on the floor.

"Is that how you treat expensive military hardware." A familiar voice asked me from the balcony.

My hand shot down to my pistol.

"No need for weapons Sergeant. I'm just here for a chat." The Colonel said.

"How did you get here? The planet is blockaded." I said pissed off.

He chuckled. "ONI has their small prowlers that I use most of the time."

"Then why aren't we using these damn prowlers to get everyone of the planet? We can stuff most of them into the dining hall of it a get the fuck out of these system!" I screamed.

I obviously wasn't in the mood for superior bullshit anymore.

"What would you do if all the pelicans on the planet flew to the same location in space?" He scowled.

"We would get everyone in and have the FTL drive charged up before we got there. Then simply press the button and get out of here." I bounced back at him.

"Don't you think we already thought of that? We have been sitting in orbit for nearly two weeks now waiting for a gap just for me to get down here without getting shot down."

I collapsed in an armchair that had been sitting in the corner of my living room. "Get out of my house. Speak to me tomorrow after my debrief."

He nodded and moved his wheelchair towards the door. "Obviously speaking to you just after a mission wasn't the best idea. " He said. "Do you mind?" He nodded at the door.

"Obviously." I replied as I got up and opened the door.

"I'll speak to you tomorrow then." He said rolling out the door and down the corridor.

I slammed my door shut and took a deep breath. I hated that man, he may be a dick, but he was right most of the time.

I stripped my gear and lay it out neatly on a plastic table in the storage room before dumping my dirty under layers in the washing chute. I looked at my body in the bathroom mirror. My body was covered in rashes and bruises and cuts along my arms, legs and face hadn't had the time or sleep to heal.

"Fuck me." I said as I peeled a chunk of burnt dead skin from my neck. I had spent too long lying on my stomach in the burning sun.

I turned on the hot water in the shower and stepped in, not leaving time for the water to heat up. I shivered as the cold water covered my body and then sighed in relief as hot water rushed behind it.

The water, after touching my body, turned black from dirt and grit that had built up over the days. I stood in the shower for a good half hour before getting out and drying myself off. I didn't bother to put any underwear on as I stumbled over to my bedroom. I threw my sheets over and pushed myself onto the soft mattress. I pulled the sheets back over and slept.

_Hey guys, I know its been a long time. Like 3 months or something. Yet I am back, and bringing several new chapters. I'm planning on starting new stories branching off from this. Tell me what you think!_

_SpartanHoplite._


	18. Glad to see

_August 5__th__, 2531_

I never did get to talk to the Colonel. After the officer's at the convention centre refused to refuel his pelican, he decided it would be best to return to his prowler. My debrief was short and simple, just a few standard questions, then I had to hand in all my voice and video recordings as well as a written statement of the firefights we had. O'Connor did the same and we left the office building in plain civilian clothing. Once again we just hopped on a passing by truck and let it take us where ever.

"You talk to him yet?" O'Connor asked.

"First thing when I get back." I told him.

"Just, go easy on him. I checked up on him last night and he's in worse shape than before."

"I'll try, but I can't make any promises."

The truck came to a slow stop. I banged on the roof in thanks and jumped over the side. O'Connor didn't get off and I looked back at him.

"I have someone to meet later." He told me.

I chuckled and gave him a wink. "I don't want to be a god-father this early."

He laughed as the truck pulled away and drove down the road.

I looked up at the cloudy sky. It was going to rain soon. It would always rain for three days straight and then the rest of the month was pure sunshine and heat. To some it came as a relief, but really all it was, was a pain in the ass. The rain caused massive problem with troop movements and communication. Last month when it rained we lost two operation bases on the islands. They called for help for two days straight.

I stepped into the building and flew up the elevator. I stopped on the 12th floor and took a step out. One of the ceiling lights had died; I made a mental note to fix that later. Walking down the corridor I came to the room labeled '71'. I gave it a hard knock.

"It's open." I voice mumbled from within.

I opened the door and walked into a mess of a living room. There were shattered plates all over the floor along with several bottles of alcohol, even if it was the hardest thing to come by on the planet right now.

"Come on, on your feet." I told Youngster as he lay in the corner with a heater by his side.

I walked over to the open balcony door and slammed it shut. Flicking the light switch on, I saw the real extent of the damaged to the apartment. There was ripped up furniture and bloodstains along the walls. Though I felt no remorse for him. I could accept the broken plates and the numerous empty bottles of expensive alcohol, but this was too far, this was pathetic.

"Get on your goddamn feet!" I screamed.

The soldier within Youngster kicked in a he shot to his feet standing to attention. His body was covered in rashes and cuts from the glass.

"Put some shoes on and help me clean this shit up." I said to him in an aggressive voice.

With little protest Youngster slowly made his way through the minefield of glass towards his bedroom. He emerged with a t-shirt, a pair of shorts and shoes on. He had also grabbed the vacuum cleaner from the bathroom and plugged it in. I left the room and went down to the communal cleaning room.

It took around half an hour to get everything clean. The walls still had hints of blood on them and there was the odd piece of glass hiding under a table or chair. I pulled two beers from the fridge and sat down on the sofa.

"So, how you been these past couple of days?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"Look, I don't need to be talked to. Just let me deal with it myself. Please." Youngster responded.

I placed my beer on the coffee table. The other beer was still resting un-opened on the counter where Youngster was standing. "No, I'm not letting someone as talented as you sit on your ass and cry like a bitch!" I yelled slamming my hand down on the table.

Youngster didn't even flinch and gave me a stern look. "You don't know what it's like with someone like her."

"But I do! I felt sad sure, but I got over it and understood shit happened during a war. People fucking die all the time, more so when we are up against an enemy that seems to have no end!"

Youngster was stuck now. He opened his mouth and then closed it again to think his response through.

"When you think about, you see that you will make many friends during your battles. Those people will most likely die, I'm probably going to die, O'Connor is as well, but when the time comes we will die upon a pile of fucking bullets."

He bowed his head and accepted defeat. "When's the next ship out?" He asked bluntly.

A small smile slipped across my lips. " We leave on the 7th. So try and not kill yourself before then."

I grabbed my beer and walked towards the door. "Remember, ask any of us for help and we will give it to you." I left the apartment. "Thanks for the beer!" I yelled before the door shut.

I took the elevator up to my floor and stood on my balcony for most of the day. Just looking out at the trucks driving past. I wondered if I had over-reacted at times like Youngster had done. I couldn't remember a time like it, but my mind told me that at one point I had. I thought back to the _Hummingbird _and the day she went down. Standing on the rooftop, then smash, she hit the ground and took out a couple of blocks with her.

My data-pad buzzed on the balcony table making a great deal of noise, which put me off. I frowned; no one would message me right now, not even Art. I walked over and saw that it was a message from Art. I picked it up and started to read the long paragraph that he had written.

"Massive amounts of movement coming from the Eastern Islands. Deploying as many free units a possible to defend against assault. Movement of 'Onagers' requires 3 out of 5 unit leaders on planet. ODST Sergeant Drastly named as ground leader for the operation.

Mate, this is from the top. I just got this 5 minutes ago. You are going to be boarding a Pelican with Youngster and O'Connor in 30 minutes so you can arrive and organizing everything before the main bulk of reinforcements arrive at the islands. You will have 5 islands to defend, you will be given most of the gear we have, but please try and conserve as much as possible. "

I sighed as I felt every sore on my body. Most of the bruises weren't even fading yet. Yet I was happy to get back into it, I was bored here. There was nothing to go do, not a planet like this. I could go down and help load gear but they had hundreds of people doing that. I could ask for an apartment closer to the outskirts, but then I would get fewer missions out side the city limits.

I banished those thoughts from my head and fitted into my washed gear. Even though it had been washed some blood never came off, neither did any of the blast marks. The only reason to actually wash the damn thing is so it feels fresh when you put it on next.

I was quick down the elevator and into a truck. I knew both Youngster and O'Connor got the message so there was no point in going to grab them. When I arrived at the convention centre I could see how much shit the eastern islands were in. Nearly every pelican that we had available was being used to fly ammunition and other supplies east. This time there were no formalities as I walked through. I had to push and slide through the movement of people and huddle in the corner of an elevator to get to the roof. It didn't improve from there. There were so many people moving around and so many pelicans taking off and landing that I didn't know which one I was taking.

"Sergeant! Over here!" I heard someone yell.

I turned only to see that he meant another Sergeant. I then saw youngster sitting onto of the roof of a pelican trying to spot me. I gave him a quick wave, which he returned before moving through the crowd to him.

"You better after our talk?" I asked him.

He nodded. He wasn't saying much, but it was clear that he was ready. O'Connor was sitting in the pelican ready to take off when we got on board. I gave Youngster a slap and we jumped up and took our seats. My legs were cramped as boxes of ammo were loaded in with us. Finally a case of rockets was loaded onto the underbelly of the pelican and we took off. The pelican sluggishly picked its heavy weight off the roof and we climbed above the building.

"So you got a plan?" O'Connor asked me.

I shook my head. "I haven't even had the time to look at any maps."

"Well personally I have some ideas." He said.

"Fire away."

I opened up my map of the area and connected with O'Connor's helmet. Red line started to appear along some of the beaches and high points on the islands. Along with plans to build reinforced bridges in between the islands.

"I don't know about the bridges. They seem to open to attack and we don't know how long we have. They'll take up a lot of resources that could be used for island defense." I argued against the idea.

"Yes, but some islands might come under heavier fire than most during attacks and we might need to move around men to repel more contacts."

"Then we use the boats left by the tourism industry. They are fully fueled and in their own secure storage areas. We can use them for quick transport. The larger deep-sea fishing vessels can be used to block certain beaches and sunk to create artificial bridges between islands."

"Ok that sounds good. What about troop numbers? What are we looking at?"

"I'm just going through that now. Seems like they are pulling back the other four remaining ODSTs from their positions for the defense. We also have around 50 marines to protect 5 islands. Some are smaller than others and have high cliffs on some sides."

"Ok, should I start splitting them up?"

"Yea, do that. I'll go over them after I get reports on all the equipment and ammunition we are getting."

Youngster looked out of place from behind the crates. He was more soldier than strategist. "Why don't we just set up sandbag dug outs on the edge of the beaches and mow them down when they land?"

"Most likely they will be coming in by air. I'm actually thinking about setting up multiple positions on the islands and digging underground tunnels between them. That way we can't be flanked or have an exposed rear." I responded.

He seemed confused still. "Why are they attacking the islands anyway? Can't they fly over the city and just hit us from there?"

"Well we suspect that the Covenant are looking for some of their 'holy artifacts'. Also the distance between the islands and the edge of our city defense put all their drop ships in range of Onagers from either side. If they take islands from any side then we are left open to ground attack, as they can fly in low and drop off their troops and tanks over the water, making our Onagers useless." O'Connor butted in.

Youngster nodded and went back to being silent.

"I'm seriously contemplating the heavy positions connected by tunnels. If we set up a sort of square perimeter on the larger islands with large two-story concrete bunkers and have our main anti-air defense in the middle of them. Therefore we don't have to worry about protecting them from the ground, which saves us troops and resources."

"Alright I'll set up plans for that as well. I checked the inventory for mines, and you can guess what I found."

"Personal or Armour?"

"Mainly personal, but a few armour."

"Alright then we can place the personal ones in between the gaps of the bunkers and the armour on the beaches."

It had only been about 15 minutes, but the pelican made good speed with the wind behind it and we ended up landing 5 minutes ahead of schedule. We landed on once a private helicopter pad. We assisted the flight crew in unstrapping all the gear and taking it off.

At the time we were the only three permanent defenders on the islands. I looked around at the all the gear and ammunition that had been left by previous flights. I inhaled the salty sea air.

"Let's get to work. First up, boats."

By the time that the first marines arrived we had already blocked off the main straight between the two central large islands. A few holes in the hull caused by some small explosives is all we needed to create our bridges.

I greeted the marines and sent them the image file of the defensive plan for the islands. We had gone through every unit and assigned them to certain islands based on their experience, skill and numbers in the unit.

With that all organized we began the initial construction and were joined by the hoards of marines that were arriving. Trees were cut down and used as floors on the muddy ground and also for scaffolding.

Within five hours the last bits of cement were drying. Everyone was exhausted, the sun was still high in the sky and a warm westerly wind was blowing in. Marines soaked in sweat moved boxes of ammunition into the poor excuse for tunnels and down towards their bunkers. The marines on the smaller islands were only contactable by radio, which they were slow to respond to.

"You still haven't told me where you are going to set-up." O'Connor asked me.

I opened my mouth to respond. "And I swear to god if you say the clock tower I'm going to slap you." He said.

"The clock tower." I responded.

I received a hard slap across the face. "I warned you."

"You do realize that you we be under huge amounts of fire when they realize you are up there?" He asked.

"Yes, but the position is too good to be true. The colonial design about it gives me 360 degrees around the central islands and then onto the other islands as well." I argued. "I can organize the defense meanwhile I can fire down at the Covenant. Best of both worlds."

"What about ammo, you use a special handmade bullet that isn't in mass production, right?"

"Yea, but it can shoot 14.5 x 114mm just as well. It will just make a smaller hole." I grinned.

He nodded. "What were the latest reports looking like?"

"5 hours until shit storm central." I replied.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yep, that bad."

* * *

_August 6th, 2531_

I lent on the railing of the clock tower. We were coming close to our deadline. The sun had dropped behind us making walking around more bearable, along with a wind change to a cold southerly that was picking up speed. Waves were starting to crash into the eroding cliff face.

The view that I had was impeccable, if I was here for any other reason I might of taken an extra minute to stare at it, but I was here for war and I couldn't take breaks for it.

"All teams report." I said over the radio.

The bunkers and tunnels had been reinforced while guns were set up and our single 'Onager' was moved into place. One of the other ODSTs had volunteered to have to job of manning it while being exposed to any stray fire.

"Onager 1, all good."

"Alpha, green."

"Bravo, good."

"Charile, clear."

"Delta, clear."

"East 1, setting up final gun."

"West 2, all good."

"West 1, green light."

"East 2, we're good."

"Clock-tower, good. No sign yet."

I pulled up my binoculars and looked out across the horizon. There was nothing except for a large band of birds that seemed to be migrating due to the change in weather.

"Delta, don't you have a bird expert in your group?" I asked.

"Aye, that would me." A voice responded.

"What time do birds migrate here on Roost?"

"I don't know what you are talking about. There are no native bird species here on Roost and the UEG turned down a colony of foreign birds." He said confusingly.

It didn't take me long to realize what the birds were. "Contact incoming!" I yelled.

"Huge movement of drop-ships on the horizon. All men and women to positions. Move everything underground now!"

I lay down on the thin mat of cushions that I had taken from the hotel below me. I grabbed my rifle and felt adrenaline rush through my body. It had been too long since I had used it. I opened up my tally taking program onto my HUD, I still kept track of my kills, even if they were only with my rifle.

"Sir! I have command on the line asking for you!" A marine yelled from the bottom of the clock tower.

"Connect them to my helmet!" I shouted back. "Now get to cover!"

"This is Sergeant Drastly speaking."

"Sergeant Drastly. You are ordered under military law to fight to the death. You are ordered to hold the ground and not order a retreat. If done so any man, or women found of retreating will be arrested and court-martialed. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir. But may I ask why?"

"Help is coming. The UNSC have dispatched a small fleet to get us out of here. The Covenant know this and are throwing everything at your position. Good luck, any further communication will not be possible." Then there was static.

"Round out!" The 'Onager' gunner yelled.

The mass driver fired and smashed into the lead phantom dropship. A jeer rose from the bunkers as the remaining pieces splashed into the blue ocean. This was replaced with the occasional burst of automatic weapons fire as the dropships drew closer and closer. Then the breaks between fires began to draw closer and closer.

I leveled my rifle with the polarized cockpit of a phantom. I squeezed the trigger and watched the swift trail of air wisp behind the bullet before it made a hole in the front of the Covenant craft and it began to fall.

My hand shot to the bolt and swiftly ejected the casing and replaced it with another. We fired at the phantoms non-stop for five minutes straight. Runners were being used to move extra ammunition to the positions where they had already run through two days supply worth. We didn't know when the fleet was coming, and at this rate we were going to run out of ammunition before they arrived.

I opened a private channel with Youngster. "Do you know how to by-pass a communication line?"

The feedback was full of automatic weapon fire, with brief pauses as they quickly reloaded. "Possibly, if I got the time to do it, which if you're wondering, I don't"

"Never mind then, it was a waste of time anyway." I told him, before cutting the channel.

"Five Wraiths charging across the water towards us, pinging them now. Try and conserve rocket ammo. Let the mines do their work." I said while firing.

"Cloaks! Elites on the beach!" Someone yelled.

I changed my target and looked for the shimmering air. It wasn't too hard to spot when you are looking for it. I pulled the trigger and saw the air pop as the elite was thrown back into the water.

"This is East 2, we have no contacts. I repeat, no contacts."

"Watch yourselves East 2, camouflaged elites are operating in the area. Have the area a swept with bullets to be sure."

"Delta needs ammo."

"Bravo responding to Delta, ammo coming your way."

The muscles in my left cheek were getting sore from keeping my eye closed shut and my shoulder was aching from the recoil.

"West 1, we are taking heavy fire from all sides. Requesting permission to retreat across to Main Island."

"That's a negative West 1, we cannot lose a single island without giving it our best shot."

There was a pause. "Roger that sir."

I grabbed my rifle and moved over to the west facing side of the clock tower. The Covenant were swarming the bunker. There were jackals and grunts climbing to the top of it trying to find a weak point to break through in. The two-story structure was ablaze with the flashes of human weaponry. I positioned myself on the ground and let the strong wind cool off my sweat.

"West 1, detonate anti-personal mines."

"Sir, the blast might send shrapnel into the first level of the bunker."

"Then duck."

I lay down and picked out targets as they fired at the bunker. The elites were at the top of the list, but I wasn't going to fuss about shooting a jackal or grunt if it was wasting ammo. I went to reload when the mines detonated throwing up body parts, blood and dirt. The stunned survivors were quickly picked off by the bunker's inhabitance while I took out the retreating elites.

"East 1, we are all out of heavy weapons. Two Wraiths on our doorstep."

Once again I jumped to my feet and moved across the clock tower jumping over the small ladder hole, before lying down again. I picked of one of my high-explosive rounds from my shoulder and placed it in the chamber. Took aim at the rear of a circling Wraith and fired at its energy source. The bullet flew straight and true and erupted the rear of the Wraith in a orange, purple fireball, eventually engulfing the whole tank.

The second Wraith turned to face me in the clock tower and I could see the main gun increase its angle to increase the distance to the top of my position.

"Stick a grenade on the back of that bitch!" I yelled.

I picked off the elite manning the turret, claiming the kill for myself. I held my breath and waited for what came first, the blob of fleshing eating plasma or the Wraith exploding. Neither occurred.

"This is East 1, we have capture a Covenant Wraith."

"God damn Marines! Sometimes you make us want to kill you, but by god you are some resourceful fighters!" O'Connor shouted.

I stopped firing to stand up and use my helmet to zoom in on the first eastern island. What I saw was a blood covered Wraith zooming around firing its main gun and a marine manning the turret.

"Watch where you fire that main gun. We don't need any avoidable casualties." I said, returning to my prone sniping position.

Things seemed to be going in our favour. The 'Onager' had not stopped firing since the first shot and the coils were steaming as the cold water sprayed over them.

"Drop pods!" Someone yelled.

I looked up and saw a Covenant Cruiser close to the ground.

"Take the fucker out!" O'Connor screamed.

The Onager turned and lifted up pointing towards the sky. The drop pods landed around the islands with a few missing their targets all together and splashing into the depths. The already huge amount of fire that we were putting on the Covenant seemed to grow as the fresh reinforcements joined the attack.

"Watch the east beach!"

I lifted my gun and turned on my knee looking through a gap in the tower to the east beach, only to see that it was riddled with Covenant. The gap between the left beach and East 1 was too large for even the largest yacht that the island had. This gave the Covenant the only opportunity to attack us from the flank with the west side blocked off with a yacht and the rear protected by a rocky approach, the other problem was that the east beach also had a man-made mound with housing along it giving the Covenant a rally point before they made a push at the bunkers.

There was a massive explosion of purple, causing my visor to automatically dim to account for the brightness. With my train of thought broken I looked up to see a hole in the bottom of the cruiser and the massive ship plunging towards the surface.

"Charlie, move to reinforce Delta on the East side. Leave two men and take the heavy weapons with you."

"Bravo, report."

"Shit flying in from everywhere sir. We had to ditch the top floor of the bunker, they were pinning us down two hard with the Wraiths. We lost a gun and the gunner has serious burns to his hands."

"You say you lost the gun? Is it still able to fire even if it looks burnt and melted?"

"What are you trying to say sir?"

"If I split up Charlie Team and send half to assist you, will you be able to retake the top floor and use the gun?"

"Yes, sir. I can make that happen."

"Then do it."

"Charlie, split in half and move to Bravo to provide assistance."

"West 1, give it to me."

"Not looking good sir. We haven't lost anyone yet but we are taking injuries. Soon there won't be a man without burns on their hands and arms. We are running low on ammo as well, any chance for a runner?"

"Give me a sec, West 1."

"West 2, how are we looking?"

"Nothing to really report here sir. We made a good choice only to build one single story bunker on this island sir. We haven't had much activity so far."

"Very well. Then you are to pack up your position and move to West 1 immediately."

"Roger, sir."

"Make sure to close all the doors on the ship as you move across. Then rig the trip wires on the doors to give an indicator if they are moving across."

"Yes sir."

"And when I mean move everything across, I mean everything. You are going to be living there from now on."

The cruiser finally hit the ocean, sending a shockwave through the ground. Although it was some distance away it caused a small tidal wave that was coming straight at island West 2, which made it's evacuation even more vital.

I tuned out of the radio and made a complete move to the East side of the tower with a full view of the East beach. I took my position and started to fire. I didn't take my time to choose targets as the beach was awash with them; all I would need to do was move over to a new spot and fire to hit another target.

"Sir, I can see their tanks turning back. They're retreating!"

It was true. The Covenant were pulling away. The remaining soldiers were trying to swim out to the tanks or rallying behind the remaining elites to try and salvage something out of their situation.

"Stand down. I want ammo checks and runs. If you need medical attention report to the nearest medic on your island or connecting island." I said. "Clear and clean every working weapon. Make repairs where needed, then dig in and wait for the next wave. Make no mistake, they'll be back."

I stood up and stretched my sore back. The situation looked bleak, and my luck was stretching thin. We were lucky today not to lose anyone.

I heard the crashing of water onto rocks and it rushing onto ground as the small tidal wave from the cruiser reached the Western most islands. The sea level all around rose and bodies of the fallen Covenant were swept off the beaches and out to sea.

I sat up against one of the four pillars holding up the clock tower roof. I looked out at the distance black dots of the converging Covenant. Night was approaching, which gave us a break in combat, but we could never be too sure.

* * *

_August 7th, 2531_

I woke from a dream about my brother in the dam. It was a dream about he got away and was now searching for me. Not for revenge, not to kill me, but not to love me either. The dream was blurry at best and I shrugged it off after I ate my MRE breakfast.

The morning was full of repairs and trying to maintain the Wraith that we had taken yesterday. Marines we sitting around arguing how to operate it the best, I just sat and listen to their ideas about how the Covenant could remote control it too kill us all and that all Wraiths had minds of their own.

I tuned out and slipped my hand into the gap between my boot armour and boot insulation. I felt a piece of paper in between the gap and made and effort to grab it out.

My larger fingers struggled to grab the edge and were covered in foreign dirt that had been trapped in there. After about two minutes of trying I managed to get it out. It was covered in dirt and grime. I realized that it wasn't a piece of paper, but actually a laminated picture. I pulled my water bottle out and dropped several blobs of water cleaning it as I went.

The picture was of Mackey and me.

She took the photo before I dropped onto Harvest. We were eating at the time and I was smiling with my mouth full and my checks puffed out.

I sat there oblivious to the world. A small smile grew across my face as a tear broke out and ran down my face. I quickly rubbed it off. Making sure that the marines were still bickering amongst themselves and that they didn't see anything.

I stood up and passed through an old private yacht that would have been used by the wealthy holiday goers that would frequent this place.

I walked through it and looked in awe at the amount of money that it would have cost someone. The seats were all premium leather, the real stuff, not the stuff made on Reach. The handrails were premium metals and some were even imbedded with rare jewels. Not that any of that would be worth as much as it would have been back then. I noticed a small gap between the seats that seemed out of place. By now I was trying to forget about the picture, although it had now made its way into my leg pocket and not my boot.

The seat in the middle of the gaps was wobbly and seemed to not be set into the boat like the others. The ruined fur carpet seemed to be higher up in front of the seat.

I pulled out my knife and began to tear through the carpet. Underneath was a raised platform that was stopping the seat from moving back. I released it and opened the seat to reveal a stockpile of cheap cigars, cigarettes and alcohol.

The cigars were all but tarnished as they had been in bad weather and poor handling. Yet the cigarettes were fine along with the alcohol. I grabbed the large box of cigarettes, they were Red Ladies, cheap ones, but the heavy restrictions here on Roost meant that even these cigarettes were expensive and hard to get.

I grabbed a couple of boxes for myself before heading away. I would tell the guys about this, but I didn't want anyone getting drunk.

I was walking towards the bunkers in the centre island when it started to drizzle. It seemed to be a wet couple of days and I picked up the pace to head to cover.

"Banshees!" A marine yelled in the distance.

I looked up to see a banshee crack through the thick cloud cover. Then two more followed with it. They didn't seem to have intent on strafing the exposed marines but had a vector more aimed at the centre bunkers.

"The Onager!" I yelled to the hiding marines.

"Return fire!" I heard someone shout in the distance.

I pulled my MA5 from my lower back and took a knee in one swift motion. Aiming towards the sky I led the lead banshee and started to open fire.

Bullets seemed to bounce off the rounded frame of the craft, but seemed to become less stable as it drew more fire to itself.

"Get the rockets out!"

"More banshees coming under low cover!"

"Phantoms!"

The radio was going ballistic as the surprise attack unfolded. The previously resting ODST was now manning the Onager, half dressed as he did it.

Two of the lead banshees fell from the sky with a pop of purple flames and crashes into the ocean below. The third pulled up in time to dodge a hail of bullets from a heavy machine gun position. It dropped it blob of green plasma further than it expected and slammed into the roof of the clock tower. The plaster quickly melted away and then soon the brickwork began to crumble. The marines who were firing from underneath the clock tower looked up in fear as they saw the crumbling bricks come crashing down crushing two of them.

A bright flash of light appeared as the Onager fired at a charging Phantom, knocking it out of the sky.

"We have Wraiths charging us under the cover of the low visibility."

"All men return to defensive positions. Start up our Wraith and re-arm the mines."

I stopped firing and moved with my head low towards the bunkers as shards from the banshees landed all around me. I heard a cry from behind me as a marine took a shard to the leg. I rushed to grab him by the collar but a following banshee finished him with several rounds piercing his chest armour, blood rolled out of his mouth and down his cheek.

I turned around again and made it the full distance this time, making it back to the bunker and rested against the wall for a couple of second to catch my breath and clear my mind of what had just happened.

"Sir." A passing marine remarked as he returned ammo to his position. I gave a nod and made a move to find O'Connor and regain control of the situation from the Covenant.

Taking my helmet from its clip I placed it onto my head and clipped it into my neck armour. The screens flashed a deep hue of blue as the HUD booted up. My map updated and showed that we were completely surrounded. Elite Special Forces had scaled the rear cliffs and we putting pressure on Charlie and Delta bunkers. West 1 seemed to be holding well with the additional forces and equipment from West 2. East 1 looked secure with their neighbor looking dangerously about to be overrun. Yet there was no one to spare. East 1's Wraith was engaging the Wraiths that were threatening us from the water, which was vital to take out as many as possible before they made land fall. The middle island was completely engulfed in hail of bullets, shards, and plasma, and West 1 was way to far away to send help.

"Banshees are dive bombing us Sir!" A marine above me shouted.

There was a dull thud as the green blobs of plasma landed on top of the concrete. There was a brief sizzling sound before the screams of the marines came as splashed plasma made it through the firing slits.

"Medic!"

"Replace McMatter! Get that gun rolling again!"

I moved down the slit slowly, ducking from time to time and then firing off a clip at the landing Covenant. I handed ammo to the marines that I passed who were running low; they took it without looking at me, concentrating on the battle at hand.

I found O'Connor and Youngster fighting fiercely with Alpha Squad in their bunker. I trod over hundreds of bullets casings as I entered and joined the firefight. Neither of them said anything to me.

I sent a message to O'Connor before joining firing next to him. _We can't hold like this forever. We're going to run out of ammo in a few hours._

The reply with instantaneous, even though it seemed as if O'Connor had not changed his attention to anything but shooting. _The men and women know what's expected of them. They know that coming here was going to mean near certain death with the amount of Covenant that was about to be thrown at us. We can hold for an hour even without ammo. The Onager fires pure energy, we defend the generator, which is under the main island bunker. We fight with our knifes to keep that thing firing. We'll use their weapons to hold them off._

He had a fair point. And I was impressed in his ability to come up with such a long message so quickly.

"Incoming!"

I paused my firing to take a good look out of the firing slit. In the distance I saw a line of Wraiths firing in a barrage type style. It wasn't much good against the thick concrete, but.

"Get down!"

The rounds of plasma fell short of the bunkers and then the splash came flying through the gaps.

My HUD showed at least 20 marines had critical vitals. I had ducked in time before the splash rolled through. I wish I could say the same for O'Connor. He was lying on the floor with plasma eating through his helmet and chest armour. Scrambling towards him I used my suit's enhanced strength to rip the chest plate from his under armour and tore his helmet from its lock with the neckpiece.

Youngster was unharmed and was still firing wildly at the motivated Covenant.

The two marines that were in the bunker with us were now on the ground, their bodies cooking slowly as the superheated ate through their bodies. The open marine helmet provided no protection when the plasma came flying in.

"All islands report." I shouted louder than I should have.

"East 1. We are being swarmed! The wraith is moving as much as it can, but we won't last long sir."

"West 1. We are holding fine, taking casualties though. The Wraiths are lining us up next."

There was no reply from East 2. "East 2, report."

A small simmer of static blew through my radio. "East 2?"

"East 2." Came a whisper. "Only two of us left sir. They overran our position and moved onto flanking East 1. We are hiding in the corners. Send help."

I didn't even have to think about giving her a reply. She knew that we couldn't send anyone.

"East 1, pull back to the centre island. Grab everything, you have one run to get as much as you can. When you give us the go we will cover you."

"East 2, thank you for your service. It's been an honour."

Static again. "Sir. Likewise."

East 2 was the only island that was not connected to the chain, as the gap was too big for any of the ships. They had been given a chunk of ammunition, so that they would not have to make a run to East 1. There was a huge explosion from inside the bunker on East 2.

Two vitals dropped from my HUD into the grey. My tally updated of available marines. Chunks of concrete landed on East 1 and into the ocean.

O'Connor had recovered and was trying to organize what he could without his helmet and its equipment.

"Incoming again!"

The marines had learnt their lesson and took cover as plasma shot through the gaps.

"This is Delta! We are being overrun Sir! Suicide grunts are charging out position."

"O'Connor, Youngster, with me!"

Youngster finished off his clip and turned to face me. O'Connor had given up trying to contact every position at once and nodded at me. I started off towards Delta through the linking covered trench. Marine bodies were lying in the small in-crops that were dug for ammo and sleeping. I opened my tally to cover a quarter of my HUD. We were down to 20 men and women.

"West 1, give me another update!"

"It's been and honour sir. Maybe in the next life."

There was another explosion, this time bigger. The ground shook and I needed to steady my self from the shock. 5 more vitals dropped down into growing amount of black names and numbers.

"East 1, move now!"

"Negative sir!" The transmission was full of static. "We've been hit too hard. We won't make it across."

"Roger. Do not detonate until it is absolutely necessary. Bring them into the bunker before detonation."

"Roger sir. It's been an honour."

"Likewise."

We reach delta to see mangled bodies lying on the floor. Blood was seeping into the cracks between the crumbling concrete.

"Up here!"

The three remaining members of delta were on the second tier using their machine guns to try and curb at the swarm of Covenant troops attacking.

"It's so good to see you." The ODST who was fighting with them slid down the railing and we moved with him to take up positions of the first tier.

A mere moment later there was a loud ear-piercing sonic boom and the air seemed to heat up around us. I didn't get to guess what it was before it hit. The second tier floor crumbled on top of us. I took a hit to the head and blacked out.

"Covena…"

"Onager fir..."

"Shieldin..."

Vision came back to me slowly. My body was stuck in place with only my right arm being free.

My HUD was resetting so that I could receive proper radio signals. I reached down to my leg and pried my pistol from its holster. The Covenant forces around the bunker seemed to be as confused as we were and several bodies were laying smoking from the impact of what ever hit.

The air heated up again and another explosion rocked the island. A roar came from the Elite warriors to rally their troops. It came clearer to me what had happened. I turned my head enough to see the great purple ship looming over the islands. The sonic boom came from the ship doing a extremely dangerous in atmosphere jump to surprise us and negate the effects of our single Onager.

Grunts and Jackals started to move closer towards my position. They seemed to be unaware of the fact that I was still alive. I made an effort to try and free myself from the great piles of concrete weighing down on me.

A shout from a grunt gave my position away. The little bugger paid for its trouble with a bullet to the head. The Jackals seemed to raise their shields, but did not fire at me.

The limited translation software that was built into my helmet started to spring up with the word "leader" and "leader imp". I didn't know if they were talking about me, or O'Connor who I had no idea if he was alive or dead.

A large elite with a energy sword burst through the ranks. He seemed to be covered in human blood from head to toe. I raised my pistol and emptied my clip into the beast. His shield dropped after my third shot and I landed 2 hit into his arm, the other shots seemed to bounce off his armour. The white armour settled in my blurry vision, an Ultra.

I dropped my pistol and started to panic. I pushed as hard as I could to push off boulders and free my other arm. The Ultra seemed to take some time to recover from the two flesh wounds and roared in anger at the two grunts that tried to come to his aid, killing them both.

By this time I had managed to free one of my legs and gain access to my spare pistol ammo. Still stuck, I reloaded my pistol and emptied it into the Ultra again. My aim was off and I only managed to hit it in its leg.

I reloaded again with my last clip and fired again. The Ultra was ready this time though and moved swiftly to the side. A slower and less prepared Jackal took the whole clip and was thrown from its feet.

The Ultra was now moving towards me at a slower pace due to its injured leg. It turned on the energy sword and dragged it along the ground sending sparks everywhere.

My leg was completely stuck under a massive boulder that I couldn't move without help. My fate seemed inevitable.

The Ultra grabbed my by my arm and pulled me up. My leg stayed dislocating my whole leg and shattering my ankle. I screamed in pain as my leg finally came loose. The Ultra seemed to be laughing at my pain.

I went for my knife on my chest but the elite smacked my hand and the knife away. The energy sword came up to my helmet and I could feel the heat seeping through the cracks in my armour.

I had one option left, but it was going to die either way. I kill the elite and the Jackals finish me off, or the elite kills me. I chose the former. With a swift and hard head-butt the elite dropped me. I landed on my leg and I let out a high-pitched scream from behind my teeth. From my boot I grabbed the knife missing its tip from my bootstrap. Lunging off my good right leg I landed on the elite forcing the beast to the ground. Bringing the knife about my head I brought it down hard on its throat. Blood sprayed everywhere, covering the elite's armour and me.

The Jackals seemed to be at a miss about what was happening. From behind me a spray of bullet dropped them one by one. I turned to see the ODST that was manning the Onager was standing on the pile of ruble. O'Connor, Youngster, and the other ODST came over the debris.

Above us the Covenant Corvette was charging its main gun to fire at us. My tally had up dated and all but 6 vitals. The four of us and the two other ODST's who had retreated to the ground level of the clock tower building. Youngster helped me to my feet and we both stared up at the Corvette ready to die.

I hoped the relief fleet would arrive in time to save the day and all would be well like it was meant to be in stories and the games that I played as a kid, but when the Corvette fired I knew I was delusional.

I could already feel the air getting hotter and my visor was dimming down so I my eyes could see the bright beam.

A pelican flew over the field firing at a clump of grunts. The pilot who was completely unaware of the beam coming down flew straight into its line of fire. In an explosion of yellow and purple a MAC round pierced the clouds and punctured the Corvette. Damaged, not destroyed the Corvette tried to make a run for it. Another round pierced through and hit the main engines sending the craft towards the sea.

The Covenant forces on the island seemed to be in dismay. They had lost what seemed to be the small command ship and now were without orders. Even the elites seemed to be unable to control the large groups of grunts and jackals.

Bombers flew over us and lay the hurt onto the beach. The shockwaves rippled through the ground and pelicans soon followed up taking out the stray forces with their frontal gun.

A pelican came straight for us and landed, squashing the bodies of the jackals underneath its landing gears. The ODSTs in the clock tower moved out and made a run towards the pelican. O'Connor and Youngster helped me aboard with my destroyed leg.

Inside the Colonel was waiting. For the first time I could genuinely say I was happy to see him.


	19. Randall

_March 15__th__ , 2532_

I had watched the surface of Roost become smaller and smaller as the pelican made its way back into orbit. I didn't have much to think about the planet. It didn't have much strategic importance and most of the population fled to the inner planets when Harvest was attacked. The remaining few civilians were now, like us, on a pelican heading towards the relief fleet. No manufacturing plants or shipyards gave it a two-ship protection fleet with a small station. The brass at HIGHCOM would have known that those ships and station would have been lost even if the smallest Covenant fleet jumped in. Those ships and the MAC cannon on the station could have been used to protect more important planets that had more than just nice tourist beaches.

Maybe the brass had done it just for a moral idea. To make it seem like a prime holiday planet was still safe to go to. Try and provide an economic stimulus in an industry that had all but disappeared, Tourism. Yet at what cost was that thought of Tourism to be paid for. Two frigates now floated around in pieces in an orbit with the planet. The crews of the frigates were now cold and lifeless. The men and women of the Marine Corps were now forever left on the planet below, their bodies to be turned to molten glass when the Covenant came back. They fought for nothing in the end of it all. The Covenant weren't another step closer to killing us all; they weren't killing off a large population base like on Harvest.

All the thinking was making me feel sick as the pelican dodged the dull grey hull pieces of the previous frigates. I watched a number of bodies float by and wondered if the Captain was among them. I didn't feel sad about the Captain's death. His obsession with control over his men seemed to be psychotic.

My leg pain seemed to have drained away as it lay motionless. I didn't try and provoke any pain by moving it and wasn't planning on it. There was a medic on board who was paying attention to a few of the smaller wounds on the other ODSTs before moving over to me.

"Do you have any feeling in your lower leg?" He asked.

I tried to feel something by tensing my muscle but it was met by pain. "Slightly, but it's painful." I winched.

He scanned my leg with his holo-pad. He let out a deep breath confirming the worst to me. "This injury is going to mean you won't be able to go into cryo. You'll have to recover for 3 months. The long trip back to Reach will take at least 5 months. You'll have the AI to put you to sleep when your recovery time in up."

I nodded silently and he moved towards the other deep cuts and smaller fractures that riddled my body. I waved him away and signaled to O'Connor to help me stand up. By now the planet had rotated enough so that the small chain of islands were now out of visible view. The least significant chain of islands ever fought over.

O'Connor slung my arm around his neck and pulled me off my seat. The pelican began to slow and maintain a steady straight-line course. I felt gravity return to my body with a sense of relief that I always got when on a pelican. There was a slight thud as the landing gear hit the titanium floor and then the cargo ramp opened at the back. The remaining ODSTs fell in behind O'Connor and me as we hobbled down the ramp. In the hangar was the whole entire remaining force from Roost. There were a good number of technicians and support staff in the mix of all the marines and ship crew. They all grew silent as we walked along the hanger floor towards the elevators.

A younger marine came up to me. "Did anyone else make it back sir?" She asked.

I shook my head painfully. I could see in her eyes that she knew people. She took a step back a nodded to me. "Thank you." She saluted with tears in her eyes.

The rest of the marines stood at attention, the sound of their boots echoing in the now quiet hanger. They all saluted us as we made out way to the elevators.

"Sir." Many of them said as I passed. "Thank you, sir." I few others muttered. Even many of the civilians stood quietly and nodded in respect towards the group. We reached the elevators and the marines were still standing at attention. "At ease." I said, my voice echoing through the hanger. The doors closed and we moved up.

* * *

_August 12__th__, 2531_

I was put into an induced coma for several days to help my body recover faster with the medication the doctors pumped into my bloodstream. My bones seemed to move back together, which would have been a very painful experience had I not been in a coma. My leg on the other hand had recovered enough that I could put weight on it with the help of crutches.

The fleet had jumped out of the system as soon as all the pelicans had returned from the surface. The ships had come with a minimal crew in order to provide the cryo room needed for the flight back. For the majority of the flight I was stuck talking to a 'dumb' AI

When I woke ONI agents threw me into a room and asked me to write a report on the events to the best of my ability. I was then given a psych assessment to which I answered every question sarcastically. The agents took the hint that it wasn't the right time and told me that I had a day to recover before I had to do the assessment for real.

I spent most of the time moving around the quiet ship. Only two ONI agents a doctor and myself were awake aboard the ship. I was moved out of the infirmary and given an empty officer's room. All my gear that I had on me and that I left in the city was shipped up as well. My armour had been somewhat repaired, the cracks had been sealed with a silver metal that stood out from the green mass.

I had only my pistol with me. Wait, only my pistol. Where was my rifle? I started to panic. That rifle was irreplaceable, it was meant for me. It had been in my family apparently. I knew my aunt used to work for the UNSC and that she would be the only connection, but none of that mattered. Where the fuck was my damned rifle.

"Don't fret about it." I deep voice said behind me.

"Colonel." I gave a soft reply before continuing my search.

He seemed to be watching humorously while sitting in his wheelchair. I stopped after 5 minutes to take a breather.

"You still haven't figured out the connection yet, have you?" He asked me as I took a seat on my bed.

"Yea, yea. It's my aunt, she worked for the UNSC it was her all along." I sighed.

"Nope. Completely wrong." He laughed.

I frowned. Who else could it be? The worry of the rifle vanished as I thought about my family connections. "Maybe someone on my father's side. I never knew my cousins." I said.

"Nope." He laughed again.

I got frustrated easily and spat the dummy. "Then who the fuck is it!"

"No one." He smiled.

I opened my mouth to shout and then it hit me. He had lied to me since the beginning. "What?"

"Well it's quite simply actually. You were a test. We found that you had a significantly good eye and you could put all your mental power into the job of firing a rifle." He paused. "You have your gifts of shooting, but they don't compare to what some of the truly gifted marines can do. That was until we got hold of you." I was still dumbfounded. "We looked at your past and saw that you used to take drugs heavily. Then we sent in a nurse who gave you a huge adrenaline shot. You thought it was a sleeper, remember?" This was back when the whole thing started for me I thought. "Then we sent in the technicians with orders to let you win the fight. What we hadn't accounted for was you running across a field half naked and then you fighting off two more security guards and the whole video making it online."

"Wait what!" I finally shouted. "This was all a lie?"

"Yes, now let me finish." I closed my mouth. "We trained you to think you had the option of army or marine. We always knew you would be thrown into the ODST course. That was only the first test, to see if an inexperienced cadet could go through the ODST training course and come out to fight on the same level as an experienced one. The second test was all mental. We produced a larger caliber weapon that was unique and wore it down, firing around 10,000 rounds before repairing parts to make it seem battle worn. Then we told you that the gun was meant for you and you had a very special gift of sniping that went all the way back into your family. This was all a lie of course. We then dropped you on Harvest; from then on it was all you, well mostly. When we could we saved you, but when you went behind the lines with Vladimir that was all you. We hadn't expected results like this."

"Results from what?" I cut him off.

"You wouldn't have noticed but we pumped you full of drugs and steroids throughout your training to increase your concentration, agility, strength, etc. We were going to make you the best soldier mentally, apart from the Spartans of course." I grunted at this comment. "You believing that you had a special gift for killing and all the chemicals in your body forced you into over drive. We thought you were going to die honestly and we about to start shredding and burning all of your documents to erase you from the UNSC." He took in a deep breath. "Then we saw what was happening, you changed completely. Your vitals were through the roof, I honestly thought your heart was going to explode inside of you." He laughed.

"All I was, was a test dummy?" I muttered.

"No. You still are one. You might not have your trusty gun, but hell you can keep jumping across buildings and killings hundreds of Covenant. We need men and women like you. We now know that we can tap into people's brains and change the chemistry so that they believe the idea that they are all super soldiers with special gift. If every marine and ODST had the same amount of kills you had, this war would have ended from attrition within the first year." He smiled.

"What about you trying to kill me though? Was that real?" I asked.

He chuckled to himself. "That was my emotions getting the better of me. Yes it was true. Usually we would send test subjects into an environment that we could quickly extract them from. I went out of my way to put you into situations where a miracle was needed to get you out. Yet most of the time you did it by yourself and with a help of a team, sometimes."

That last sentence hit hard. It was a hard truth. In my short time of being an ODST I had managed to be one of the only survivors out of two squads. I had lost half of my first squad in the first fucking mission. Now there were only three of us left, unless the other 4 ODSTs wanted to join us, which I doubted.

"What happens now then? You spilled the juice on your project, so I'm back to Reach and then killed off silently?" I asked solemly.

"No, no. You still work for ONI, not on paper though. Do you remember Qin, you know that semi-important guy that was worth around 15 million dollars. You shot him in the face, ring any bells?" He asked sarcastically.

I nodded.

"Well his position just opened up." He took out a cigar and lit it. "Don't listen to what ever you were told on Harvest. Qin was nothing more than a messenger; his enhanced electronics and communication cost a bit. He wasn't going for experimental armour or anything like that. We aren't stupid enough to put something that important on a planet that was on the verge of rebellion. What cost the most was the information chip he was carrying. He was taking it to what remained of the 72nd Infantry Regiment." He took a puff from the cigar. "They were protecting a ship AI that had crashed near the start of the conflict. That AI was holding the algorithm to unlock the data. Long story short we got the data but then our agent was killed." He took another long puff. "Now we need someone to finish the job."

"Where am I going?" I asked plainly.

"Vodin."

* * *

_June 7th, 2532_

Reach was a mild temperature as usual. I spent some time in the city getting to know O'Connor and Youngster more. Although O'Connor seemed reluctant to tell us anything about his past, he still had a large amount of opinions about issues going along with the war and how the UNSC is conducting the fighting, especially in the case of battles in orbit. Youngster was keen to listen in on O'Connor and his opinions as if they were gospel.

After my leg had fully recovered we were grouped together with the 3 other ODST's that survived from Roost. The ODST drill instructors sent us through a harsh training regime that brought our bodies back up to their best potentials, with the help of some drugs though. We became pretty close with the new members of the squad, Fredrick, Elisa, and Jordan.

I spent a couple of sessions with the Colonel to bring me up to date with all of the need to know information. There wasn't much apart from my clearance and within what boundaries I was allowed to act outside senior commanders that weren't ONI.

Within 5 months of arriving we were back on a ship heading to Vodin. This could have been done in the 5 months of our recovery and training but ONI didn't see it as crucial importance of yet. The war with the Covenant was slowing according to the ONI reports that were de-classified for me. They were discovering less and less of our worlds and instead were reinforcing their attacks elsewhere. ONI and HICHCOM were using this time instead to focus manpower on building up the remaining Outer Colonies and Inner Colonies rather than focusing on some of the more secret ONI projects.

The instructions were simple. Accompany the small defense fleet heading towards Vodin to reinforce the two orbital platforms and defense fleet. We would land on the ground with most of the ground complement of marines and soldiers. An ONI pelican will pick us up and drop us at the research centre, which just happened to be in a very pro-insurrection area that frowned upon what research occurred on the planet.

"It's going to be a quick in and out." The Colonel said. "You land grab the scientist and his research and get the fuck out of there. We have reason to believe that the insurrectionists have shoulder mounted missiles."

"Then we'll need a good pilot." O'Connor muttered.

I gave him a grin in return. "Colonel, have you heard of a pilot by the name of James Arthur?"

"I'll make the arrangements." The Colonel told us and left the room.

"We could technically walk him out. Have a large convoy to wave off any thought of attacking us." O'Connor mentioned. "That way we have a sure means of safety."

"Yes, but think about it. We are supposed to be covert now. In and out quick as possible, the convoy would take us through all of the territory loyal to the insurrection; it would be slower as well. We might even have to accommodate breakdowns on the road. You heard the Colonel, 'Quick in and out'."

"Yes, but in reality we have all the time in the world. You've seen the same reports as I have. The Covenant are reinforcing positions instead of opening new ones. Our only threat is the insurrection, who by the way probably isn't going to try and take on fully armoured convoy. They may have missiles, but not enough of them let alone the training to use them."

"So what! The reports could tell us that they were all taking a years vacation, but do you think we actually know what's going on? It's not like we can blend in and understand their language properly. This is all on a basis on how we think they wage war; those reports are all by analysts. For all we know the Covenant could already be at Vodin. I bet you 10 fucking credits that that there is a Covenant fleet waiting for us."

"Is everything alright in there?" A marine called out.

"Yes, now fuck off." O'Connor replied bluntly staring me down in the eyes.

"This is going to risk our lives flying in. The convoy may cost more to organize but ONI spends the same amount probably just for the amount of paper they use. And for your information, I believe the reports. If you watch the news there have been no new attacks for over 3 months. Scout fleets in uninhabitable systems haven't even reported on any Covenant jumps. So I'll bump that bet up to 50 credits."

"Dropping out of slipspace in 20 minutes." The emotionless dumb AI told us.

I walked out of the room leaving O'Connor by himself. We always had these fights about politics. Last time when we just boarded the ship we were fighting about how much power the UNSC should have during wartime. We both agreed that they should have most of the power but whether or not they should be able to continue after the war was the heated discussion.

Two marines were standing in the corridor trying to act as if they weren't listening. I walked down towards them and they separated saluting me as I passed through down towards my pod.

Our new home, the Udaloy was a Halcyon-class light cruiser, one of the newest from the Reach shipyards. She was armed with double the amount of Shiva nuclear warheads because of their effectiveness against unshielded Covenant ships. After that I began to fall asleep reading the ship's specification. It could fight and hold its own, that's all I cared.

Most of the crew was all experienced. Survivors, cowards, you name it and they were on the ship. That was except the marine detachment, which was a fresh unit straight from training on Reach. Although it may be annoying to hear them rabble on about joining to battle and killing the Covenant with ease, it can sometimes be comforting to see that innocence was still within those that hadn't experience the war. People still had faith that the war could be won in a single battle.

I passed through the main hanger bay; the amount of new equipment was amazing. It would have cost billions for all of the gear. Although there was one pelican that was looking a bit worse for wear. There were burn scars along the hull. The paint was fading on all the safety markings. There was fresh yellow paint along the side of the ship, _Roost_.

"Art!" I shouted.

Several heads turned but then quickly turned back after seeing who I was. Art's head popped through the open rear bay.

"Matt!" He replied.

I moved down the stairs at 3 steps a time making a dull thud every time my heavy-duty boots hit the ground. We embraced each other tightly. As we parted I looked him up and down, his visible body was riddled with scars a stiches. His face on the other hand was looking better than the last time I saw him back on Roost.

"How've you been so far man?" I asked.

"Yea, great man. Spent some down time back on Camber. Met the parents, told them what was going on. Then I got a call from ONI telling me to pack my bags and head to Reach." He smiled.

"Good Ol' ONI, gotta love their HR department from luxury transport on an unmarked freighter." I laughed.

"You too?"

"Yep. Only way they let us travel while training."

We had a laugh and had caught the attention of an impatient logistics officer who was trying to move cargo and ammo around. I pulled Arthur and myself out of his way and gave him a smile. "Sorry mate."

The officer opened his mouth to say something about rank but rightfully stopped and gave us a simple grunt.

"Hey, you know I need to introduce you to my new girlfriend mate. She's an absolute ripper." He grinned.

I laughed. "Sure mate. Introduce me to her after we get though. What does she work in?"

"She's a marine officer. Came in with the more experienced crew." He nodded.

"Dropping out of slipspace in 10 minutes."

"Jordan and Elisa walked onto the raised hanger platform from the elevator. There was a huge contrast in style and age between them. Elisa had her long blonde hair flowing down the back of her armour even if it was completely against regulation, and I would even consider it dangerous. She walked very flamboyantly; it showed her rich heritage of the English upper class. Her voice was very loud and confident; I could hear the accent from the hanger floor. Jordan on the other hand had her hair in a small bun, she walked with heavy steps and her voice was deep and quiet. She had a history in the Army and even I wasn't allowed to access some of her records because of classifications.

They came down the steps, Jordan leading. She stuck out her hand and gave me a firm handshake and a respectful nod. "Sir." Elisa who moved past my hand and hugged me kissing me on both cheeks followed it. She smelt of flower perfume, which was peculiar for someone that is about to go into battle. "Sir, it's a pleasure to meet you." She said. Her tone of voice was different now that she was speaking to me, as if she wanted more of my attention. My mind drifted back to Mackey and I winced at the memories. I ignored Elisa's very physical hello and gave her a nod.

I turned back to Art who was grinning like a dog. I small friendly fist to the guts wiped it off his face. He chuckled as he got his breath back and gave me a half salute before returning to finishing his checks on the pelican.

O'Connor lead Youngster and Fredrick out of the elevator. They didn't talk but walked down with the combined authority of a Captain. Marines young and old moved out of the way and gave a salute to the serious men. They moved down the stairs swiftly and marched over to the pelican. O'Connor shook my hand and gave me a slap on the back. "You might as well pay me the 50 credits now." He joked. He then moved on to greet Art.

Youngster was a lot more casual now that he was out of eyesight of all the marines. He gave me a handshake before messing with his hair. "How'd I look coming down there, Sir? Did you see any of the ladies looking at me?" He grinned. I gave him a slap over the head. "Shut the fuck up." I chuckled. He moved away laughing fixing the hair I just hit.

Fredrick seemed a bit more on edge when he came to greet me. He seemed to shaking a little bit. Before Reach he was a fresh recruit fast tracked through the ODST training due to his technical expertise that many ODST squads were lacking. I checked his scores in both basic, and ODST trainings. He had average aim, next to no tactical expertise. Yet with computers he could work magic. While working at a fast food joint he managed to hack into the system and add 10,000 credits to his pay every month. No one realized until the fast food joint filed for bankruptcy and government officials reviewed their files. ONI hooked on to him when he was sentenced for a number of business crimes, secured his release and sent him to basic, pulling him out early and throwing him into ODST training much like myself.

It seemed weird knowing my whole squad properly. Everyone crowded around me and grew quite.

"Right, the mission is a simple in and out grab." I said sending mission files to the team.

"Dropping out of slipspace in 3 minutes."

Everyone placed their helmets on and secured them. Everyone remained silent as they skimmed through the documents and photos.

"There is insurrection activity in the area. We will follow ROE, fire only if fired upon. That doesn't mean though that if you get fired at you are to be pissing weak. If they threaten us, fuck them up."

Nods came from everyone.

"Why aerial insertion sir? Why not ground convoy, we would be safer. It may take longer but I would rather be alive than quick."

Next to me O'Connor was smiling like a mad man.

"Well it's not up to us. ONI wants him quick. We don't want to stay in system for too long. We grab him, set the research center to explode, then get the fuck out."

"A bit boring for our first mission together don't you think?" Youngster muttered.

"I consider us lucky actually." O'Connor blurted.

The ship dropped out of slipspace and the usual shake as real space hit us. Then came another burst of shakes.

"All broadswords engage now!" The Captain blasted over the speakers.

The force of the MAC cannon firing sent much of the pilled equipment tumbling to the ground.

"Art! Let's go!" I shouted. "Mount up!"

The squad quickly recovered from the multiple shocks and followed me into the pelican.

"Change of plan, Matt." Colonel said over a private channel. "You are to move to the Eastman Station, which is in orbit only a short distance away. Your job is short and quick; you will help the marines going with you to set up defensive positions. Then you are heading towards the planet."

"Roger that, Sir."

"Art! Change of plan." I shouted to the cockpit. "Take us to Eastman Station."

I skimmed through the hastily put together order of battle and picked out the marine squads that were put under my command.

"Sergeant O'Reilly and Zuma, you will follow our pelican to Eastman Station. Stay in a close formation. Tell your pilot to expect contact with banshees."

"Roger, Sergeant."

"Yes, Sir"

The pelican rocked slightly as Arthur took off. The effects of low gravity over took me as we left the ship's artificial gravity field.

I now talked to my team. "We are only on the station to set up defenses. We help with barricades and moving munitions. That is it, leave the explosives on the pelican, Elisa."

"Yes sir." She replied.

"Hold tight we have incoming banshees!" Art shouted.

I remained standing holding myself down by pushing pressure on the roof with my hand.

"Fly straight. Let them fall in behind us. We got them." I told him.

I gestured to Youngster and he floated his way towards me.

"Pressurise suits."

Green lights pinging on the side of my HUD confirming everyone were pressurised.

"De-pressurise the cabin and drop the bay door when they fall in behind up, Art."

There was the faint wisp as shards from the banshees flew past the pelican's hull. There were a few impacts and a small amount of dents formed on the roof.

"Opening now."

The rear ramp lowered down revealing the emptiness of space. Two purple blobs fell in behind us. Two thuds came from Youngsters grenade launcher. The first streamed past the far banshee and was left drifting. The second impacted on the edge of the lead banshee's wing sending it spiraling out of control. With my MA5 I sprayed the hopeless banshee causing it to weave out of course slamming into the front of the far banshee.

"Lift the ramp, Art."

Pressure returned to the cabin and we gracefully landed with a thud onto the metal floor.

"How long Art?"

"One minute. There seems to be contact around the station. This might be rough."

"Let's just hope not as rough as last time." O'Connor butted in.

"O'Reilly, Zuma, fly straight for the hangar, don't stop to engage."

I connected my radar with that of the pelican's. I noticed six dots pulling off from contact around the station and heading towards our triangle of pelican.

"Hit the afterburners. We don't have time for this." I told Art.

Without a reply the ship thrust forward. I was caught off balance, sending my arm reaching for something to grab onto, to no avail.

I was caught by Elisa's arm and she pushed me back to my feet. I gave her a nod, and I swear that I saw her wink at me through her visor.

In under a minute I felt the pelican slowing down. I downloaded the schematic of the station onto my visor. The most recent update showed most of the station was in Covenant hands with only the key AI room and MAC cannon centre being under complete UNSC control.

The feeling of weight returned to my body as we passed through the artificial gravity field. The roar of the pelican's guns thundered through the bay, as Art mowed down the Covenant defenders.

I lead the group out of the bay and watched as Art left quickly back to the _Udaloy_. With great relief the two other pelicans came flying in relatively unscathed. The marines filed out quickly and efficiently.

"O'Reilly, set up your squad in the hanger." I said pointing out key defense points. "Spread your squad out just incase they come in with something big."

"Zuma bring your squad with us. You are going to be reinforcing the marines that are defending the station's AI."

I set out on a quick jog knowing that time was lives right now, and the next life might be that scientist.

Dried blood covered the walls with the black tones of scorch marks complementing them. Most of the human bodies had been lined up in the corners in plastic covers, while the dead aliens had been left by their brethren on the floor and up against walls.

Fredrick led the group and turned around a sharp corner without looking. Grabbing the back of his body armour, Jordan saved his life as a spray of needles impacted the wall and exploded in succession.

"Targets!" The call went out.

Most of the marines stayed out of our way as we turned the corner as a line and started to pick off targets. The training now seemed all worth it. The group of grunts and jackals fell quickly with many fleeing. The marines, with adrenaline rushing through their blood streams rushed to the front and picked off the stragglers.

Without much thought to checking for casualties we moved on quickly. Picking up the speed with followed the retreating Covenant. Foolishly we got too cocky and turned another sharp corner before checking and saw ourselves facing the whole Covenant boarding party, including a pair of Hunters.

"Well fuck me." Youngster muttered.

We had the advantage of surprise and sprayed the group with all we had, including Youngster's whole bag of grenades. Smoke from our guns and the grenades covered the whole corridor.

"Ceasefire!" I yelled as nothing was firing back.

The air vents in the corridor did their job well and the smoke dispersed within seconds. I stared in disbelief as the Hunters raised their shields and the completely unscathed group raised their weapons at us.

Just as if this were a story where the main characters had to survive for it to continue, there was a series of explosions from behind the Covenant. Another larger explosion smashed right into the back of one of the Hunters.

We were as confused as the Covenant as what was happening. O'Connor was the first to reload and take advantage of the distraction. Pulling my spare grenade from my belt, I lobbed it into the middle of the group sending purple gooey blood across the walls.

"Marines!" Eliza shouted at the group hiding behind the corner of the wall.

Reluctantly the marines came around one by one and opened fire on the group. The second Hunter let out a ferocious roar.

"Well fuck me again." Youngster said louder this time.

We all changed our aim towards the Hunter as it came charging at us. Several grunts and jackals were smashed out of the way. The Hunter just absorbed the bullets like a sponge and didn't slow down a bit.

"Run!" I shouted. "Run you fools!"

Zuma, the leader of the marine squad was frozen with fear as he stood directly in the path of the charging Hunter. "Run Zuma! Run for fuck sake!" A marine yelled.

With no time to spare I tackled Zuma and heard as one of his ribs broke from my armour contacting his. We hit the ground hard as another rocket was fired from behind the Covenant. This one smashed into the back of the second Hunter. With another roar it took a knee.

Taking the initiative I grabbed a grenade from Zuma's chest plate and stood up. With the Covenant distracted I dived onto the wounded Hunter's back and shoved the grenade into its slimy wormy organs.

I remained on its back as the blast was contained within its body. The huge beast fell to the floor with a thud. I sighed with relief and rolled off its back onto the floor.

Jordan came around and offered her hand. I took it and she pulled me from the floor. She handed me my gun and as a group again, started to work our way down the corridor towards the Covenant.

Once again the marines moved their way to the front and started to fire at the wounded. Zuma stayed behind to recover from the broken rib or two.

"Ceasefire." I said calmly, still recovering from the extent of physical activity that I hadn't done for multiple months.

Once again smoke had built up in the corridor and the multiple air vents swiftly filtered it out. A large human figure stood and the other end of the corridor with a rocket launcher resting against one shoulder and a MA5 against the other.

"Son of a bitch." Youngster muttered. "That's a…"

"We know what 'it' is." O'Connor muttered.

The Spartan dropped the empty rocket launcher and walked towards us. The marines stared in awe of the armour-clad beast. O'Connor, Jordan, and Eliza turned away and walked to the back of the group and formed their own little circle.

I stood at the front of the group and waited as the Spartan walked towards us. I placed my MA5 on my back and held out my hand for him to shake. He looked at it weirdly as if he didn't understand what to do.

"He wants you to shake it." Youngster told him.

The Spartan then grabbed my hand with a killer grip and shook it. My hand was in pain but I stared the Spartan through our visors. His grip seemed to tighten to get a reaction from me, but I didn't even flinch.

"Sergeant Matthew Drastly, Sir." I grunted.

"Petty Officer Second Class Randall-037." He grunted back.

From all the stories of Spartans, Randall seemed to be the most lively Spartan so far. Most were monotone and socially isolated when speaking to members of other branches of the military.

There were another few seconds of awkward silence as we stared each other down. He was only a couple of inches taller than me and that was only because of the armour.

"We have direct orders from ONI. So if you'll excuse us." I hissed.

He seemed to chuckle. "So do I. You're under my command now."

"Yea fuck that you are mutant." O'Connor said from behind the group.

I turned around I pointed a finger at him. "Shut the fuck up O'Connor."

He shook his head and turned back to his group. There were obviously deeper feelings of resentment towards the Spartans that O'Connor had inside of him, but I would have to find out about them at a later date. Right now I was trying to maintain my command.

The marines had withdrawn from the stare down and watched on curiously.

"My orders are to guide you to where you will drop of this marine squad and then we will drop down onto the planet using SOVIEs on a pelican." He told us.

I reluctantly nodded. "Lead on then."

It turned quickly and walked down the corridor stepping over the dead Covenant. I stayed 2 meters away from his at all times, and that was closer than any other ODST would ever want to be.

We came across the remainder of the original platoon that was defending the station AI and they looked like a miserable bunch. Their dead were pilling up in one of the spare rooms and they were running out of ammo quickly.

"What was the point of that? Why wouldn't we have just sent the marines here and then walked back to the hanger to save time?" O'Connor complained.

"That's because we aren't using the hanger." Randall replied. "You might want to pressurize your suits."

"I didn't sign up for this shit." Eliza moaned.

I gave her the same look I gave O'Connor. "This was the exact fucking reason you signed up."

I pressurized my suit, Randall walked towards the closest airlock before muttering something to himself.

"Are you going to tell us anything else? Like why the hell are you helping to grab a simple scientist?" O'Connor persisted.

The station shuddered, an alert appeared on my visor. The station's structural integrity was compromised. Cameras from multiple pelicans showed a large portion of the hanger breaking away. Doors slammed shut all along the hallways of the station trying to maintain oxygen levels and gravity.

"We need to get out of here now before they fire again." I told the Spartan.

It nodded and slammed the airlock control panel with his palm. We all moved into the cramped space and prepared to board the pelican.

"We're going to have to jump." It told us.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. I'm not liking today at all." Youngster muttered.

"The planet's gravity will pull us towards it at a very fast rate. We have one chance for this. If you miss the pelican, you're dead."

With that he hit the other control panel and we shot out of the airlock and into space. A red target circle appeared on my visor and centered on the pelican that was at least 5 kilometers below me.

I aimed myself towards the ship and closed my body together reducing the small air-resistance against my body. The Spartan, Eliza and Fredrick shot by me at high speed and were then followed by the trio of O'Connor, Youngster and Jordan. Something was slowing me down.

I tried to twist but I was going too fast to make any real movement. I ran a system diagnostic test. While this was happening I didn't realize I was being pushed off target to the right by about 2 kilometers.

"I'm off course, something is wrong with my suit. I'll try surviving the fall by pulling my chute early. Complete the mission and get out of here with or without me."

"You are leaking oxygen." The Spartan replied quickly. "On your left leg, it looks like a small cut on the armour plating." It continued. "Try and counter it by shooting your right leg."

"You can't be serious." I replied.

"Now I'm telling you to shut up Drastly. Do as the fucker says." O'Connor shouted.

With a grunt of protest I pulled my pistol out of its holster on my right hip and fired at the armour. A small scratch appeared on my armour but it didn't pierce. I fired again and it once again bounced off. I thought ran through my head, I was going to die because military hardware had, for once, done what it was supposed to do. I was going to die because I can't shoot through my own armour that isn't supposed to be shot through.

"Fuck it." I muttered.

I bent as much as I could and held the gun almost at point blank range to my calf plate and pulled the trigger. The force and the pain from the bullet going through my leg and splattering hot lead on the other side as it broke up caused me to drop my gun and watch it hopelessly fly off into oblivion.

Air started venting from the open hole and I was being pushed back on track. The pelican was dangerously close now and my vision was blurred from my watery eyes.

"Matthew, slow down. Break, break goddamnit." O'Connor said.

I couldn't feel my right calf and at the time I just didn't feel like there was enough strength left in my body to do anything. There was no adrenaline pumping from a battle to keep my going. My suit calculated that I was going to impact with the pelican and moved all of the cushion gel or what ever the scientists at ONI had called it to the front of my body.

I hit hard.

_Thanks for reading once again guys. Right now I am probably the least reliable writer on fanfiction. I'm probably not even that good at writing but it makes my life a little brighter. Anyway, I hope that I will be posting more often and blah blah blah, the next chapter will be out next year or something. Nah just kidding. I usually start writing a chapter straight after I finish one, I then get about 3/4 of the way through it and then I go to sleep or go do something else, for the next month or so it sits on my mac as just another thing I have to slide past while doing school work or something. And now during times like this when I am on holiday in Mauritius and lying in bed I finish it off and write and really long apology for why I haven't finished the chapter and been punctual. _

_Anyway, I love you all and hope you have a great Easter and life and whatever. Be safe and wear a condom, or put a condom on the guy if you are a girl. :)_


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